"It's like playing a videogame to remove some of the tissues and then we can back-compute it to see how it impacts nasal airflow," Kai Zhao, a medical researcher at OSU Wexner Medical Center, said in a statement. "Folks in the aerodynamic industry have been using this kind of method for a long time and we started using it in the nasal airway to see if we're able to get a better understanding of the physiology underlying nasal function and also nasal symptoms."

To that end, the OSU researchers will also employ fluid dynamics simulations and even 3D-printed models to help predict the effects a surgery will have on post-op airflow through the sinus cavity.