The association of concha bullosa and deviated nasal septum with chronic rhinosinusitis in functional endoscopic sinus surgery patients

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) remains a prevalent disease and a major cause of morbidity for many patients and functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is the gold standard for the treatment of CRS. Many factors contribute to the development of CRS, among others nasal anatomic variation. The authors aim to study the association of concha bullosa and deviated nasal septum with CRS patients requiring FESS amongst the diversified multiethnic Malaysian race. The records of 137 patients with CRS who had undergone FESS between March 2002 and October 2006 at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM), Kuala Lumpur were retrospectively reviewed. The data revealed that deviated nasal septum (DNS) and concha bullosa (CB) were the two commonest anatomical variations in the nasal cavity. In this study, CB was statistically significant amongst the females and in the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups. DNS is also prevalent but has no significant statistical relationship with sex, age, ethnic group in the local context. CB and DNS are coincidental variations and this study disprove that DNS is associated with CB in its development and pathogenesis of CRS. The mere presence of both these conditions also does not predispose the patients to CRS in the adjacent paranasal sinuses.