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This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free All Versions of this Article: 100/1/107    most recent 00575.2005v1 Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Papon, J.-F. Articles by Louis, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Papon, J.-F. Articles by Louis, B.

Nasal wall compliance in vasomotor rhinitis

¹Physiopathologie et Thérapeutique Respiratoires INSERM UMR 651; ²Service de Physiologie-Explorations Fonctionnelles, Hôpital Henri Mondor (Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris); and ³Service d'ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale des hôpitaux Intercommunal et Henri Mondor (Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris), Créteil, France

Submitted 16 May 2005 ; accepted in final form 29 August 2005

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 10 patients with vasomotor rhinitis compared with 10 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 cmH₂O. Mucosal decongestion was obtained with one puff per 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 behavior 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.

acoustic rhinometry; nasal physiology; oxymetazoline