Anatomical variation of the nasal septum: Correlation among septal components

The nasal septum consists of multiple components with various developmental origins and is considered a mosaic structure. Few studies have focused on anatomical relationships among the components of the nasal septum, even though they are essential for clinical assessments of morphological abnormalities in the nasal septum. This study was performed to evaluate anatomical correlations among components of the nasal septum using computed tomography (CT) of the paranasal sinus. We studied images from CT scans of 168 paranasal sinuses collected at a secondary referral hospital between July 2008 and February 2009. The area of each component of the nasal septum was measured using median sagittal images of CT scans after three-dimensional reconstruction using computer software. The area of the cartilaginous septum decreased with age, whereas the area of the total nasal septum remained constant. The area of the perpendicular plate of ethmoid increased with age at the expense of the area of the septal cartilage.