I try to know how to rebuild the nasal cavity after an inferior turbinectomy, where to add volume in priority ?
Some ENTs think that the head of the turbinates is the most important because it is where it's easiest to add resistance. And they often think that nasal resistance is the most important parameter in the ENS.
In this study, Dr Nayak and others researchers/doctors prove that it is possible to reduce significantly the symptoms of ENS without adding resistance. He implanted cartilage in the inferior meatus (the place of the inferior turbinate) and they have seen with CFD that the airflow is better redistributed between middle meatus and inferior meatus.
This other study shows that without inferior turbinate the most part of the airflow is redirected in the middle turbinate compared to healthy subjects. And they found a correlation between peak wall shear stress in the inferior meatus and airflow feeling sensation. Peak wall shear stress is the quantity of friction of air on the mucosa.
What we can say with all of this data? I think that it is useless and may be harmful to just add volume to the beginning of the nasal cavity ( head of turbinates) because that will increase wall shear stress just at the beginning of the nasal cavity and not all along. And that will not solve the redistribution airflow problem. Without adding volume all along the inferior meatus the airflow will stay in the middle meatus and the sensation will remain bad.
The solution is to rebuild the nasal cavity like before turbinectomy, with the same distribution of the volume. It can be with adding volume in the remaining inferior turbinate if it is possible or adding cartilage on the lateral wall. But you have understood it is very important to add volume not just at the beginning of the nasal cavity but all along like a healthy nose. In the graph below, we can see that a healthy nose has a stable cross-sectional area all along the nasal cavity, but of course, it is not the case with an inferior turbinectomy. The reconstruction of the nasal cavity must tend towards these values.
