A morphometric consideration of nasal septal deviations by people with paranasal complaints; a computed tomography study.

The purpose of our study was to examine the localizations and the value of septal deviation by examining the coronal computed tomography of 143 persons with paranasal complaints which 72 of them were female and 71 of them were male, without taking into consideration if a deviation existed or not. The localization of the deviations of the septum nasi was investigated and the relationship between the genders were compared. The septum nasi was examined in the anterior, media, posterior regions for the left and the right directions in each person and was also examined at the superior, media and inferior levels except for the caudal end area. The value and the direction of the deviation was established. A deviation was found in one region in at least 76.2% of the 143 persons (70% female and 81% male). The maximum average deviations were found to be 1.43 +/- 2.1 mm in mediomedia "MM" (the vertically and sagittaly middle region of the septum nasi) region with a percentage of 34.7% towards the right-hand side in the female group, and 1.0 +/- 1.7 mm in the MM region with a percentage of 31.9% also towards the right-hand side in the male group. The maximum deviation in the female group was found to be 7.8 mm in the MM region and 7.9 mm in the AT region in the male group. No statistically significant difference was found for the averages of the deviations (0.298 +/- 0.345 mm in the female group and 0.295 +/- 0.269 mm in the male group) in different regions (p > 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found for the averages of the deviations towards the right-hand and left-hand sides between the male (right 0.302 +/- 0.292 mm; left 0.287 +/- 0.261 mm) and the female (right 0.350 +/- 0.438 mm; left 0.247 +/- 0.235 mm) group (p > 0.05). Separation of the nasal septum into 10 segments will constitute a new basically aspect for an objective, simple and practical consideration and classification.