title: Objective assessment of nasal resistance in patients with nasal disease.
abstract: Nasal obstruction is a subjective complaint in patients with nasal disease. The ability to quantitate the nasal ventilation dysfunction would be useful for making the appropriate choice of nasal disease management. This cross-sectional study comprised of 200 adult subjects. They underwent assessment of relevant symptoms, nasal examination and investigations before undergoing active anterior rhinomanometry (AAR) assessment. A group of 88 normal subjects and 112 patients with nasal disease were included. The mean total nasal air resistance (NAR) was significantly higher in patients with nasal disease (0.33 Pa/cm(3)/s) as compared to normal subjects (0.24 Pa/cm(3)/s). There was no significant difference in total NAR between patients with symptoms of nasal obstruction and those without the symptoms (p = 0.42). It is concluded that AAR is a sensitive but not a specific tool for the detection of abnormalities in NAR and it failed to relate to the symptom of nasal obstruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Suzina
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamzah
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Samsudin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000403:Airway Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000503:physiopathology; D009666:Nose / Q000503:physiopathology; D009668:Nose Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011312:Pressure; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D025363:Rhinomanometry / Q000379:methods*