Histopathological verification of clinical indications to partial inferior turbinectomy

Surgical treatment in cases where disturbances of the nasal patency causes changes in the nasal inferior turbinates is controversial. The authors performed light- and electron microscopy and morphometric examinations of the mucous membrane of the nasal inferior turbinates obtained after partial inferior turbinectomy in patients with vasomotor and perennial allergic rhinitis and compensation hypertrophy of the nasal inferior turbinate accompanied by nasal deviation of the septum. In specimens obtained from patients with vasomotor rhinitis, a small number of glands and fibrosis of the lamina propria was observed. In specimens obtained from perennial allergic rhinitis patients, plenty of glands and large oedema was observed. In the group with compensatory hypertrophy of the inferior turbinate, normal glands and fibred areas around the vessels were observed. The largest histopathological changes of degeneration and hypertrophy of the nasal mucosa were observed in vasomotor rhinitis patients. Histopathological examination of nasal mucosa slides confirmed the usefulness of a partial inferior turbinectomy, but only in vasomotor rhinitis patients.