Otolaryngologists’ radiological assessment of nasal septum deviation symptomatology

Objectives Nasal Septal Deviation (NSD) is one of the most common causes of nasal obstruction. This study aims to further examine the clinical utility of imaging assessment in the workup and management of symptomatic nasal septal deviation, across all levels of medical training. Study design Cross-sectional survey. Methods CT scans of 10 confirmed NSD patients and 36 healthy controls (HC) were mixed and emailed through anonymous REDCap surveys to otolaryngologists in the US. The HC had no reported sinonasal obstruction symptoms—NOSE (NSD: 62.2 ± 12.5; HC: 5.69 ± 5.99, p < 0.05); SNOT-22 (NSD: 31.4 ± 14.5; HC: 9.72 ± 10.76, p < 0.05). The images consisted of a coronal slice at each subject’s most deviated location. Participants were instructed to choose the patients suspected to present with symptoms of sinonasal obstruction. Results 88 otolaryngologists responded to the survey. 18 were excluded due to incomplete responses. On average, they identified 64.2 ± 29.8% of symptomatic NSD subjects correctly, but misidentified 54.6 ± 34.6% of HC as symptomatic. Their decisions were strongly correlated to degree of NSD ( r = 0.69, p < 0.05). There exists a significant degree of NSD among HC (38.7 ± 17.2%), which does not significantly differ from symptomatic subjects (51.0 + 18.7%, p = 0.09). Residents and fellows performed similarly, with responses correlated between levels of training ( r = 0.84–0.96, p < 0.05). Conclusions The incorporation of a substantial number of otolaryngologists, large patient sample, and blind mixing with HC gives us greater insight to the relative contribution of the extent of septal deviation to symptoms of nasal obstruction. Although NSD is a common factor contributing to nasal obstruction, the results of this study suggest that it is difficult to reliably infer obstructive symptoms based on degree of NSD on CT. Level of evidence Three.