Correlation of nasal morphology to air-conditioning and clearance function

Date
2011-12-15
Authors
White, DE
Al-Jumaily, AM
Bartley, J
Lu, J
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract

Nasal morphology plays an important functional role in the maintenance of upper airway health. Identification of functional regions, based on morphological attributes, assists in correlating location to primary purpose. The effects of morphological variation on heat and water mass transport in congested and patent nasal airways were investigated by examining nasal cross-sectional MRI images from 8 healthy subjects. This research confirms the previous identification of functional air-conditioning regions within the nose. The first is the anterior region where the morphology prevents over-stressing of tissue heat and fluid supply near the nares. The second is the mid region where low flow velocity favours olfaction and particle deposition. The third is the posterior region which demonstrates an increase in heat and water mass flux coefficients to compensate for rising air humidity and temperature. Factors identified within the congested airway that favour enhanced mucocillary clearance were also identified.

Description
Keywords
Nasal morphology , Convection coefficient , Hydraulic diameter
Source
Respir Physiol Neurobiol, vol.179(2-3), pp.137 - 141
Rights statement
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in (see Citation). Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version was published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version)