Nasal airflow and odorant transport: a prerequisite for normal olfaction

空气/气味剂流向嗅觉感受器部位的机械性阻塞可能是嗅觉障碍的主要原因。 鼻窦疾病患者的损失。不幸的是，量化各种鼻功能的影响， 梗阻和随后的手术结果，使用声学测压、动脉测压或CT扫描 是不够的。研究表明，这些现有的客观测量与 患者的主观症状。 最近开发的计算流体动力学（CFD）建模技术已经显示出用于以下方面的前景： 量化鼻气流模式和气味的位置依赖性、阻塞引起的变化 粘膜沉积，并有可能表征其对患者嗅觉功能的影响 功能这项建议的目的是建立一个基线的鼻腔气流模式和气味输送率 在健康受试者中，从临床中嗅觉丧失的假定传导机制 患者可以在将来进行检查。 在未来，这种建模技术可以提供外科手术的定量评估， 一个重要的术前指导，以优化气流和气味输送在人的鼻子。

Mechanical obstruction of air/odorant flow to olfactory receptor sites may be a primary cause of olfactory loss in nasal-sinus disease patients. Unfortunately, quantifying the functional impact of various nasal obstruction and the subsequent surgical outcomes using acoustic rhinometry, rhinomanometry or CT scans is inadequate. Studies have shown a poor correlation between these existing objective measurements with patients' subjective symptoms. Recently developed computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling techniques have shown promise for quantifying the location-dependent, obstruction-induced changes in nasal airflow pattern and odorant mucosal deposition and have the potential to characterize their functional impact on patients' olfactory function. The goal of this proposal is to establish a baseline in nasal airflow pattern and odorant delivery rate among healthy subjects, from which the putative conductive mechanisms of olfactory loss among clinical patients can be verified in future. In the future, such modeling techniques may provide quantitative evaluation of surgical procedures and an important pre-operative guide to optimize airflow and odorant delivery in human nose.