Evaluating Nasal Airflow Dynamics

The computed tomography (CT) scans of the head and nasal sinuses were obtained from a patient without ENT pathology (Patient 1) and patient reporting to the Otolaryngology Outpatient Department due to difficulties with nasal breathing (Patient 2). The CT images (Fig. 2) were obtained in axial planes with multiplanar reconstructions with a slice thickness of 0.6–0.75 mm, resolution of 512 $\times$ 512 pixels, and pixel size of 0.3906  $\times$  0.3906 mm. 3-D Slicer and Autodesk®Meshmixer (Autodesk Inc., San Francisco, USA) programs were used for image processing and model rendering (Fig. 1). A detailed description of the model preparation process was described in our previous publication^{9 (link)}. The evaluation of the flow studies was performed separately for inspiration and expiration. This study focused on assessing air movement in the ostiomeatal complex region and was conducted by two experienced otolaryngologists, who also interpreted the results independently.
The Regional Bioethics Committee of the Medical University of Gdańsk (Poland) approved our study protocol (nr. NKBBN/521/2013). The research was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. We obtained informed consent from all participants to use their CT images in this study and to publish the results.