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Review of computational fluid dynamics in the assessment of nasal air flow and analysis of its limitations

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Abstract

Nasal breathing difficulties (NBD) are a widespread medical condition, yet decisions pertaining to the surgical treatment of chronic NBD still imply a significant degree of subjective judgement of the surgeon. The current standard objective examinations for nasal flow, e.g., rhinomanometry and acoustic rhinomanometry, do not suffice to reliably direct the surgeon on the extent of any necessary surgery. In the last two decades, several groups have therefore considered the numerical simulation of nasal airflow. Currently, these analyses take many hours of labor from the operator, and require a huge amount of computer time and the use of expensive commercial software. Most often, their results are insufficiently validated so that virtual surgery, which is the eventual application, is still absent in clinical practice. Very recently, however, attempts at considering the finest details of the flow are beginning to appear, for example unsteady turbulent simulations validated through laboratory measurements through particle image velocimetry. In this paper, we first discuss recent developments in how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is helping surgeons improve their understanding of nasal physiology and the effect of surgical modifications on the airflow in the nasal cavity. In a second part, the procedural and modeling challenges that still prevent CFD from being routinely used in clinical practice are surveyed and critically discussed.

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Conflict of interest

All authors state that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, via La Masa 34, 20156, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Quadrio, Stefano Corti & Chiara Pesci

  2. Otorhinolaryngology Unit, Head and Neck Department, San Paolo Hospital, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via di Rudinì 8, 20142, Milan, Italy

    Carlotta Pipolo, Riccardo Lenzi, Francesco Messina & Giovanni Felisati

Authors
  1. Maurizio Quadrio
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  2. Carlotta Pipolo
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  3. Stefano Corti
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  4. Riccardo Lenzi
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  5. Francesco Messina
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  6. Chiara Pesci
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  7. Giovanni Felisati
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Correspondence to Carlotta Pipolo.

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Quadrio, M., Pipolo, C., Corti, S. et al. Review of computational fluid dynamics in the assessment of nasal air flow and analysis of its limitations. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 271, 2349–2354 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2742-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2742-3

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