Importance of nasal fiberoptic examination in the presence of a normal X-ray of the cavum.

A total of 45 children aged 4-12 years were studied at the Rhinosinusology out-patient clinic of HCFMRP. The patients complained of marked nasal obstruction refractory to any clinical treatment, and a cavum X-ray showed no sign of airway obstruction. All children were submitted to nasal fiberoptic examination in order to determine the number of false-negative results. The examinations showed 12 cases of severe hypertrophy of adenoid vegetations (27%) and 19 cases of moderate hypertrophy (42%). Furthermore, we detected six cases of hypertrophy of the turbinate cauda (13.3%) and three cases of posterior septal deviation (6.6%). These data suggest the importance of the indication of this examination, which permits a tri-dimensional and dynamic evaluation of the cavum area.