Woodruff plexus

Last revised by Yaïr Glick on 28 Mar 2022

Woodruff plexus is a venous plexus located in the posterior end of the inferior meatus on the lateral wall of the nasal cavity 1-3. It accounts for between 5-10% of epistaxis episodes. These bleeds do not respond to anterior nasal packing.

Despite George H. Woodruff's original description (1949) of the posterior nasal plexus as venous and subsequent verification thereof by cadaveric studies 1, it is described in many articles and textbooks as an arterial plexus, probably due to the multitude of arteries in that area and the fact that the anterior plexus (Kiesselbach's plexus) is arterial 3.

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