Chronic nasal obstruction is an important problem of modern otorhinolaryngology, as it significantly reduces the quality of life and often requires surgical treatment. Standard treatment approaches for nasal obstruction, such as septoplasty and inferior turbinate surgery, are often ineffective. Failed surgery of nasal septum and inferior turbinates can be explained by internal nasal valve whose dysfunction leads to nasal obstruction. In some cases, narrowness of pyriform aperture can lead to nasal valve dysfunction and consequent nasal obstruction. Several reports devoted to various techniques of pyriform aperture enlargement through simple resection of the edge of pyriform ridge have been published since 1952. This review is devoted to osteoplastic methods of pyriform aperture enlargement. In these cases, surgeon keeps the bone edge of pyriform ridge intact, resects more lateral and deeper bone fragments and partially displaces lateral wall of the nasal cavity in lateral direction. Despite technical complexity compared to simple resection, these lateralization techniques have a wide scope of application in nasal cavity. They are effective for symptoms of nasal obstruction.

Keywords. pyriform aperture, internal nasal valve dysfunction, lateralization of pyriform aperture, airway repair