Measurement of nasal anterior aperture and choana by computed tomography in newborns and infants

Nasal obstruction is potentially severe when it affects neonates because nasal breathing is predominant during this period. An accurate assessment of nasal airway obstruction should be based on a comparison of the patient's nasal cavity dimensions with precise "normal values". For this reason, we aimed in this study to evaluate the nasal morphometry in newborns and infants with Computed Tomography (CT) in our region. CT images of 134 children who had no facial and cranial anomalies and no pathology were evaluated. In the axial section, the total choana width, right lateral width of the choana, left lateral width of the nasal cavity, the posterior width of the vomer, total aperture width (AW), right aperture width (RAW) and left aperture width were measured in all participants. The study group was divided into 4 age categories: 0-30 days, 31-90 days, 91-180 days and 181-360 days. When the choanal measurements of the groups were evaluated, there was a significant difference between the groups in the choanal measurements (p<0.05, for all), but no difference was observed between the groups in terms of vomer measurements. While there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of AW measurement, there was a significant difference only between Group 1 and Group 4 in terms of RAW value. There was also a positive correlation between age and choanal and aperture values (p<0.05 for all), while no correlation was observed with vomer measurements The normal widths of the choanal and anterior nasal aperture in infants in our region were defined according to months and gender in our study. Considering that there may be social differences, knowing the normative values in normal healthy individuals is of great importance in the evaluation of clinical and pathological conditions.