抄録
Nasal calculus is one of the calculi to be treated in the field of otorhinolaryngology, but its incidence is comparatively low. We have recently treated a patient with nasal calculus considered to have existed for seven years, and succeeded in analyzing the components of the calculus.
The patient was a woman aged 57. She had been treated for sinusitis, with the chief complaints of a stuffy nose and nasal discharge, for about seven years. At her first visit to our department, a brown to dark brown coloured hard mass was noted in the right nasal cavity. Nasal calculus was suspected after taking X-rays, and easy removal followed. The calculus was of irregular shape (21×18×8mm) and weighed 1.33g. When the calculus was cut into two parts through the center, the cross section showed a plant-like core of the size of half a grain of rice at the place considered to be the center of the calculus, surrounded by layers.
Infrared absorbance assay, X-ray analysis and X-ray microanalyzer methods revealed that the main component of the calculus was calcium phosphate, and that there were sodium, sulfur and magnesium as the minor components in trace amounts. This calcium phosphate is the same component as that in bones. From this, the nasal calculus was considered to beendogenic.
