Conclusion: It is important to take adequate precautions when performing septoplasty for elderly patients.
Objective: Septoplasty is the treatment of choice for deviation of the nasal septum. Saddle nose is a rare complication caused by damage to the keystone area. In this area, the nasal bone overlaps the upper lateral cartilages, so careful attention is needed when performing septoplasty to patients with short nasal bone overlap. Therefore, the factors associated with short nasal bone overlap were investigated to allow adequate precautions to be taken during surgery.
Method: Computed tomography (CT) including the paranasal sinus region was performed in 177 patients. Data including sex, age, and the primary disease were obtained from their medical records. The degree of septal deviation and the bone overlap distance in the midline were measured using CT.
Result: It was found that advancing age was significantly associated with shorter bone overlap distance in the midline. There was no significant association between the degree of septal deviation and nasal bone overlap distance in the midline. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the overlap distance between nasal sinus diseases and other diseases, and between sexes.
Keywords: Saddle nose; septal deviation; septoplasty; the keystone area.