Chronic atrophic rhinitis with fetor (ozena): a histopathologic tretise.

Biopsy material from 50 patients with a known clinical diagnosis of ozena was examined histopathologically. Certain features were invariably seen, including mucosal atrophy, squamous metaplasia, and chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate which suggests a humoral mediated immune process. Histopathologic features allow ozena to be distinguished from chronic non-specific hypertrophic rhinitis, which may have a cell-mediated immune basis underlying its pathogenesis.