Turbinate atrophy

Introduction Turbinate atrophy is one of the symptoms of atrophic rhinitis. Atrophic rhinitis is a slow-developing chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal cavity with a regional onset. There are many female patients with this disease, mostly in young adults, and those with poor health and living conditions are prone to this disease, and have shown a trend of decreasing in recent years. It is characterized by dryness, atrophy of the nasal mucosa, enlargement of the nasal cavity, dysosmia, a large number of yellow-green pus in the nasal cavity, and a stench of odor. Long-term purulent sputum stimulation of chronic suppurative sinusitis, excessive proliferation of fibrous connective tissue, resulting in obstruction of blood circulation of the nasal mucosa, nutritional disorders and atrophy. The nasal septum is extremely deflected, one side of the nasal cavity is wide, the stimulation of the enhanced airflow, or the long-term stimulation of dust or harmful gases can also cause disease.

Cause

The cause of atrophic rhinitis is still unknown. There are many kinds of doctrines, which can be summarized into two categories:

(1) Primary: It is considered to be a local manifestation of systemic diseases, which may be related to the lack of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins, or to nutritional disorders, trace element deficiency or imbalance, genetic factors, collagen diseases, etc.; It has a certain relationship with endocrine disorders, which is more common in young women and worsens during menstruation. In recent years, with the development of immunology, most patients with this disease have been found to have immune dysfunction, so some people believe that this disease may be an immune disease.

(2) Secondary: caused by local factors, such as traumatic or surgical resection of the nasal mucosa, or due to special infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, induration, leprosy, syphilis and so on. In the advanced stage of chronic hypertrophic rhinitis, or long-term purulent sputum stimulation of chronic suppurative sinusitis, excessive proliferation of fibrous connective tissue occurs, resulting in obstruction of blood circulation of the nasal mucosa and atrophy due to nutritional disorders. The nasal septum is extremely deflected, one side of the nasal cavity is wide, the stimulation of the enhanced airflow, or the long-term stimulation of dust or harmful gases can also cause disease. It has been suggested that the disease is caused by a special bacterial infection such as Rhizoctonia solani or diphtheria-like infection. It is believed that these bacteria are not true pathogens and are only secondary infections of atrophic rhinitis.

an examination

Related inspection

Nasal endoscopy, otolaryngology, CT examination

Basic inspection:

1. Front nose examination.

2. X-ray nasal photos have clear sinus infection.

Further examination:

1. Nasal secretion smear to detect pathogenic bacteria.

2. Nasal secretions bacterial culture + drug sensitivity.

3. If necessary, virus inspection requires special cultivation, separation and identification.

Differential diagnosis

It should be differentiated from nasal tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy and cheese rhinitis.

(1) Dryness of the nose and nasopharynx: This is due to the atrophy of the glands of the nasal mucosa and the decrease of secretions.

(B) nasal congestion: purulent sputum block the nasal cavity can cause nasal congestion, or because the nerves of the nasal mucosa are slow, even if the purulent sputum is removed, the air is not easy to detect, and mistaken for nasal congestion.

(3) Nasal secretions: often in the form of massive, tubular purulent sputum, not easy to sputum, when forced out of dryness, there is a small amount of nosebleeds.

(4) Olfactory disturbance: the sense of smell is reduced or disappeared. This is caused by atrophy of the olfactory mucosa or obstruction of dryness.

(5) Breathing odor: As the bacteria grow and grow under the purulent sputum, the protein in the purulent sputum is decomposed and decomposed, resulting in a foul odor, called the stinky nose.

(6) Headache, dizziness: Due to atrophy of the turbinate, the nasal cavity lacks the effect of temperature regulation and heat preservation. Inhalation of cold air stimulates the nasal mucosa and the stimulation of purulent sputum can cause headache and dizziness.

The material in this site is intended to be of general informational use and is not intended to constitute medical advice, probable diagnosis, or recommended treatments.