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Volume: 41 - Issue: 2

First page: 65 - Last page: 68

J - Numminen - M. Ahtinen - H. Huhtala - M. Rautiainen

The objective of this study was to determine how well different rhinometric measurement
methods identify intranasal changes during acute viral rhinitis. A total of 69 patients acutely
ill with the common cold were examined. Acoustic rhinometry (AR), rhinomanometry
(RMM), nasal PEF (nPEF) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) recordings were performed
before the subjects became ill and after the onset of the infection, on days 3 and 10. In AR
the minimal cross-sectional area and nasal cavity volumes decreased in a statistically significant
manner during the early stage of infection (20.0% vs. 20.4% lower than baselines), and
at the end of the infection the values were normalizing towards the baseline values, although
still 7.2% vs. 10.4% lower than baselines (p < 0.05). In RMM the total resistances during
expiration and inspiration strongly increased, 39.7% vs. 41.6% higher than baselines on day
3. On day 10 the resistances were normalizing slowly but remained 34.1% and 41.5% higher
than baselines (p < 0.05). In nPEF the decrease in rates was also seen on day 3 (25.0% lower
than baseline) and recovery in rates on day 10 (only 3.1% lower than baseline, p < 0.05).
The changes in VAS were similar to those seen in objective rhinometric measurements.
Statistically and clinically significant correlations were calculated within AR parameters (r =
0.96) and RMM parameters (r = 0.98), other rhinometric parameters did not correlate in a
clinically significant manner (r < 0.40). We concluded that these 4 rhinometric methods support
each other very well in pathological noses, and the methods employed identify
intranasal changes very sensitively during an intranasal mucosal pathology.

Rhinology 41-2: 65-68, 2003