Mucociliary transport and histologic characteristics of the mucosa of deviated nasal septum.

OBJECTIVE To investigate differences in mucociliary clearance, histologic characteristics, and surface structure of the bilateral nasal septal mucosa in patients with nasal septal deviation. DESIGN Mucociliary transport was measured by saccharin clearance time in both nasal cavities of 20 patients with nasal septal deviation. Their septal mucosae were taken during septoplasty, and the ciliary population was studied by scanning electron microscopy. Histologic differences in the lamina propria of septal mucosae were compared under a light microscope. RESULTS The concave side showed longer saccharin clearance time than the convex side and revealed much more severe loss of cilia. Inflammatory cells more heavily infiltrated the concave side, and seromucinous glands were less densely distributed. CONCLUSION Concave-side septal mucosae have impaired mucociliary transport, presumably due to ciliary loss, increased inflammation, and decreased density of the glandular acini.