Table 3. Unilateral surface area (cm2) of the human nasal cavity (nostrils to choana) in three patients with nasal airway obstruction (NAO) after mucosal decongestion with Oxmetazoline.
| Unilateral Surface Area (cm2) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient | Cavity | -800HU | -550HU | -300HU |
| 1 | Left | 79.6 | 80.8 (1.5%) | 81.8 (2.8%) |
| 2 | 89.8 | 94.0 (4.7%) | 94.6 (5.3%) | |
| 3 | 78.1 | 81.5 (4.3%) | 83.3 (6.7%) | |
| 1 | Right | 81.7 | 82.9 (1.4%) | 84.1 (3.0%) |
| 2 | 90.4 | 94.0 (4.0%) | 94.9 (5.0%) | |
| 3 | 79.2 | 84.7 (7.0%) | 86.5 (9.3%) | |
| Average area (cm2) | 83.1 ± 5.5 | 86.3 ± 6.1 | 87.6 ± 5.8 | |
| Average area increase (%) | 3.8% ± 2.1% | 5.3% ± 2.5% | ||
A small, but consistent increase in surface area was observed as the threshold used for segmentation of the CT scans was increased from -800 HU to -300 HU. Numbers in parenthesis represent the percentage increase compared to models created with a threshold of -800HU.