Single-Sided Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow as an Adjunct Objective Measure in Functional Septorhinoplasty

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Rhinology
• Surgical Outcomes Measurement

Background:

• Nasal obstruction significantly impairs quality of life.
• Functional nasal surgery aims to alleviate symptoms.
• Objective measures for surgical improvement are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate single-sided peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF) as an objective outcome measure.
• To assess the utility of PNIF in managing nasal obstruction.
• To correlate PNIF with patient-reported outcomes post-septorhinoplasty.

Main Methods:

• Adults undergoing septorhinoplasty for nasal obstruction were enrolled.
• Preoperative and postoperative measurements included single-sided and bilateral PNIF, NOSE scores, and VAS scores.
• Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated to assess relationships between variables.

Main Results:

• Single-sided PNIF showed significant correlations with visual analog scale (VAS) scores for both better and worse nasal breathing sides.
• Postoperative improvement in single-sided PNIF correlated with improved VAS scores.
• Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scores generally did not correlate with single-sided PNIF, except in specific subgroups.

Conclusions:

• Single-sided PNIF demonstrates a stronger correlation with patient-reported symptoms (VAS) than bilateral PNIF.
• PNIF may serve as a valuable objective adjunct for evaluating septorhinoplasty outcomes.
• This measure can aid in quantifying improvement for nasal obstruction management.