Background: To evaluate the unilateral compensatorily hypertrophied inferior turbinate (CHIT) by computed tomography (CT) and determine the enlargement of the bone component in different parts of the CHIT.
Methods: Patients were studied in three groups: those with a straight or nearly straight septum (n = 143), with mild deviation (n = 42), and with moderate to severe deviation (n = 99). The cross sectional area (CSA) of the inferior turbinate (IT) bone and the whole turbinate were measured at anterior, middle, and posterior thirds of the IT in coronal sections. The ratio of CSA of the IT bone on two sides of the septum (interturbinate ratio) and the ratio of the CSA of the overall turbinate to the IT bone (intraturbinate ratio) were calculated.
Results: The interturbinate ratio of the bony turbinate CSA for the severe deviation group was significantly higher compared with other groups in anterior and middle segments (p < 0.0001). The intraturbinate ratio was highest in the posterior segment and lowest in the middle segments in compensatorily hypertrophied sides for all groups (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Skeletal enlargement is prominent in anterior and middle thirds of CHIT in patients with pronounced septal deviation.