3.1 Demographics
Patient demographic information, pressure abnormalities, and septum
presentation for all patients were reported on Table 1 . A total
of 25 patients were in the study. Nine of these patients served as
controls without aural symptoms. Patient demographic variables did not
show significant difference in age or sex between groups. The mean age
of the patients was 44.2 years old with 14 of the patients being male
and 11 being female.
When examining the relationship
between the laterality of ear pain and direction of deviation or
presence of a septal spur, there was no significant difference between
case and control groups. From the results of the CT scans and the
operations, 9 case patients had a septal deviation ipsilateral to the
side of pain and 6 had a deviation contralateral to the pain. One
patient had an s-shaped deviation with no stronger direction of
laterality. When looking at the side of pain and a bone spur, four
patients had a spur ipsilateral to their pain and four with a spur on
the opposite side of the pain. Eight patients had no bone spur.
Laterality of pain was not related to the actual septal deviation or the
side of the spur.