The nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses

Question 1

What makes up the nasal septum?

Answer 1

Vomer
Perpendicular plate of ethmoid
Nasal cartilage

Question 2

What are the openings between the exterior and nasal cavity?

Answer 2

Nares

Question 3

What name is given the openings onto the nasopharynx?

Answer 3

Choanae

Question 4

What name is given to the superior part of the nasal cavity?

Answer 4

Olfactory area

Question 5

What is the name given to the dilated spaces internal to the nares?

Answer 5

Nasal vestibules

Question 6

Which bones make up the roof of the nasal cavity?

Answer 6

Cribriform plate of ethmoid plate
Nasal bones
Frontal bones
Sphenoid bones

Question 7

What bones make up the floor of the nasal cavity?

Answer 7

Maxilla
Maxilla’s palatine process
Palatine bone and its horizontal process

Question 8

What bones make up the lateral wall of the nasal cavity?

Answer 8

Maxilla
Inferior concha
Lacrimal
Ethmoid
Sphenoid
Palatine

Question 9

What is the role of the conchae?

Answer 9

Increases the surface area of the mucosa

Question 10

What is the name of the space under the conchae?

Answer 10

Meatus

Question 11

What is the name of the space superior to the superior concha?

Answer 11

Sphenoethmoid recess

Question 12

What drains into the sphenoethmoid recess?

Answer 12

Sphenoid recess

Question 13

What drains into the superior meatus?

Answer 13

The posterior ethmoid air cells

Question 14

What drains into the middles meatus?

Answer 14

Frontal sinus, Maxillary sinus, anterior and middle ethmoid air cells

Question 15

What drains into the inferior meatus?

Answer 15

Nasolacrimal duct

Question 16

What three nerves supply the nasal cavities?

Answer 16

Olfactory nerve
Trigeminal nerve
Facial nerve

Question 17

What is the role of the olfactory nerve in the nasal cavity?

Answer 17

Receives smell sensations

Question 18

Where do axons of the olfactory nerve pass through?

Answer 18

Cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone

Question 19

What two divisions of the trigeminal nerve innervate the nasal cavity?

Answer 19

Ophthalmic nerve
Maxillary nerve

Question 20

What is the role of the maxillary nerve in the nasal cavity?

Answer 20

General sensation from the postero-inferior division

Question 21

What is the role of the ophthalmic nerve in the nasal cavity?

Answer 21

General sensation from the antero-superior division

Question 22

What is the role of the facial nerve in the nasal cavity?

Answer 22

Parasympathetic innervation to secretory glands

Question 23

What is the major arterial blood supply of the nasal cavity?

Answer 23

Branches of the ophthalmic and maxillary artery

Question 24

Where do both the maxillary and ophthalmic arteries arise from?

Answer 24

Maxillary - external carotid artery
Ophthalmic - internal carotid artery

Question 25

What is the clinical term for a nose bleed?

Answer 25

Epistaxis

Question 26

What is the most common site for epistaxis?

Answer 26

Little's Area - antero-inferior part of septum

Question 27

What do veins draining the nose connect with?

Answer 27

Intracranial veins

Question 28

What are the connecting vessels between the nasal cavity's veins and intracranial veins called?

Answer 28

Emissary veins

Question 29

What is the clinical importance of emissary veins?

Answer 29

It is a route by which infection from the nose can spread into the cranial cavity

Question 30

What lies superior to the roof of the sphenoidal sinus?

Answer 30

The pituitary gland

Question 31

Name a common complication of nasal infections?

Answer 31

Sinusitis

Question 32

What is the cause of headaches in sinusitis?

Answer 32

Pressure build-up

Question 33

What sinus is the most frequently infected and why?

Answer 33

Maxillary sinus due to the position of the openings well above the floor of the sinuses

Question 34

Which sinuses are often infected together and why?

Answer 34

Frontal and maxillary sinuses Due to the close proximity of the openings, infections in the frontal sinus can often drain into the maxillary sinus with gravity

Question 35

What may happen in the case of infection of ethmoid air cells?

Answer 35

May invade the thin wall of bone forming the medial wall of the orbit Infection may spread to optic nerve, possibly resulting in blindness

Question 36

Where may a patient experience tenderness while suffering with sinusitis in the frontal sinus?

Answer 36

Upward beneath medial end of superior orbital margin

Question 37

Where may a patient experience tenderness while suffering with sinusitis in the maxillary sinus?

Answer 37

Anterior wall of maxilla below inferior orbital margin

Question 38

Where may a patient experience tenderness while suffering with sinusitis in the ethmoid air cells?

Answer 38

Medially against medial end of orbit

Question 39

Where may a patient experience tenderness while suffering with sinusitis in the sphenoid sinus?

Answer 39

Not palpable

Question 40

What is rhinitis?

Answer 40

Inflammation of nasal mucosa

Question 41

Where may infections of the nasal cavity spread to?

Answer 41

Anterior cranial fossa Nasopharynx Middle ear Paranasal sinuses Conjunctiva

Question 42

How may infection spread to the anterior cranial fossa and what may this lead to?

Answer 42

Via the ethmoid cribriform plate along sheaths of olfactory nerves Meningitis

Question 43

How may infection spread to the nasopharynx?

Answer 43

Via the choanae

Question 44

How may infection spread to the middle ear?

Answer 44

Eustachian tube

Question 45

How may infection spread to the paranasal sinuses?

Answer 45

Via the openings of the sinuses

Question 46

How may infection spread to the conjunctiva?

Answer 46

Via the nasolacrimal duct

Question 47

What nerves innervate the maxillary sinus and the upper jaw and teeth?

Answer 47

Infra-orbital and alveolar nerves - branches of the maxillary nerve

Question 48

Where may referred pain be felt in the case of maxillary sinusitis?

Answer 48

Upper jaw and teeth

Question 49

Where may referred pain be felt in the case of frontal sinusitis?

Answer 49

Scalp as far as the vertex

Question 50

What nerve innervates the frontal sinus and the skin of forehead and scalp as far as vertex?

Answer 50

Supraorbital nerve