A HISTOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE IN CHRONIC SINUSITIS

The behavior of the mucous membrane of the turbinal in chronic sinusitis is not well known. I have planned to investigate the relationship between the histological ehanges of the turbinal and that of the sinus mucosa as a part of the pneumatization study in our institut.I have observed histologically the mucous membrane of the maxillary sinus and the ipsilateral inferior turbinal in 100 cases and that of the ethmoidal sinus and the turbinal in 43 cases.The results are as follows:1) The histological changes of the turbinal were classified into three main types, namely edema-tous, infiltrative and fibrous types, after the classification of the mucosa in chronic sinusitis.2) The mucous membrane of the inferior turbinal revealed mostly a edematouscehanges in chronic sinusitis of the edematous type and a fibrous changes in that of the fibrous type.3) The changes of the middle turbinal was similar to that of the inferior turbinal, but the ede-matous type has higher incidence in the middle turbinal than in the inferior turbinal.4) The edematous changes of the mucous membrane was seen more frequently in the sinus me-mbrane than in the turbinal membrane.5) From the forgoing results the author assumes that the change of the mucous membrane of the turbinal would be influenced by the local constitution such as the sinus membrane, thus having some relation to pneumatization of the sinus.6) The author had studied the microscopical findings of the turbinal membrane, with particular attention to the cavernous, bodies whose magnified models were reconstructed after numerous mic-roscopical photographs. It is believed that the muscular procces in the cavernous body is not a inflammatory product, but a physiological unit contributing to the contraction of the cavernous body.