Submitted on May 16, 2005
Accepted on August 29, 2005
NASAL WALL COMPLIANCE IN VASOMOTOR RHINITIS
Jean-Francois Papon1, Lydia Brugel-Ribere2, Redouane Fodil3, Celine Croce3, Christrian Larger4, Michel Rugina2, Andre Coste1, Daniel Isabey3, Francoise Zerah-lancner4, and Bruno Louis3*
1 Physiopathologie et Therapeutique Respiratoire INSERM U651, Creteil, France; Service d'ORL et de Chirurgie cervico faciale des hopitaux intercommunal et Henri Mondor Assitance Public Hopitaux de Paris, Creteil, France
2 Service d'ORL et de Chirurgie cervico faciale des hopitaux intercommunal et Henri Mondor Assitance Public Hopitaux de Paris, Creteil, France
3 Physiopathologie et Therapeutique Respiratoire INSERM U651, Creteil, France
4 Service de physiologie - explorations fonctionelles hopital Henri Mondor Assitance Public Hopitaux de Paris, Creteil, France
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bruno.louis{at}creteil.inserm.fr.
Nasal compliance is a measure related to the blood volume in the nasal mucosa. The objective of this study was to better understand the vascular response in vasomotor rhinitis by measuring nasal cross-sectional area and nasal compliance before and after mucosal decongestion in ten patients with vasomotor rhinitis in comparison with ten healthy subjects. Nasal compliance was inferred by measuring nasal area by acoustic rhinometry at pressures ranging from atmospheric pressure to a negative pressure of -10 cm H2O. Mucosal decongestion was obtained with one puff/nostril of 0.05% oxymetazoline. At atmospheric pressure, nasal cross-sectional areas were similar in the vasomotor rhinitis group and the healthy subject group. Mucosal decongestion did not induce any decrease of nasal compliance in patients with vasomotor rhinitis in contrast with healthy subjects. Our results support the hypothesis, already proposed, of an autonomic dysfunction based on a paradoxical response of the nasal mucosa in vasomotor rhinitis. Moreover the clearly different behaviour between healthy subjects and vasomotor rhinitis subjects suggests that nasal compliance measurement may therefore represent a potential line of research to develop a diagnostic tool for vasomotor rhinitis, which remains a diagnosis of exclusion.
