Inferior nasal concha

Last revised by Craig Hacking on 3 May 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Jones J, Hacking C, Bell D, et al. Inferior nasal concha. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 03 Dec 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-4780

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-4780

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/4780

rID:

4780

Article created:

16 Oct 2008, Jeremy Jones ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Jeremy Jones had no recorded disclosures.

View Jeremy Jones's current disclosures

Last revised:

3 May 2023, Craig Hacking ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:

Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)
Taylor and Francis Publishing, Paid author of Imaging for Students 5th edition (ongoing)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Craig Hacking's current disclosures

Revisions:

7 times, by 4 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Head & Neck

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

refs

Synonyms:

Inferior nasal turbinate
Inferior turbinate
Inferior nasal conchae
Inferior nasal concha

The inferior nasal conchae or turbinates are one of the pairs of conchae in the nose.

Gross anatomy

It extends horizontally along the lateral wall of the nasal cavity and consists of a lamina of spongy bone, curled upon itself like a scroll. The inferior nasal conchae are considered a pair of facial bones since they articulate with their respective maxillae bones and project horizontally into the nasal cavity.

Superior to the inferior nasal conchae are the middle nasal conchae and superior nasal conchae. Unlike the inferior conchae, these are not separate bones, but medial extensions of the labyrinth portion of the ethmoid bone.

Surfaces

The medial surface is convex, perforated by numerous apertures, and traversed by longitudinal grooves for the lodgement of vessels. The lateral surface is concave and forms part of the inferior meatus.

Borders

Its upper border is thin, irregular, and connected to various bones along the lateral wall of the nasal cavity. The inferior border is free, thick, and cellular in structure, especially in the middle of the bone.

The upper border may be divided into three portions:

the anterior articulates with the conchal crest of the maxilla
the posterior with the conchal crest of the palatine bone
the middle portion presents three well-marked processes, which vary much in their size and form

Development

The inferior nasal concha is ossified from a single center, which appears about the fifth month of fetal life in the lateral wall of the cartilaginous nasal capsule.