Correlation between nasal mucociliary clearance time and gastroesophageal reflux disease: our experience on 50 patients.
OBJECTIVE
It is increasingly suggested that gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) could play an important role in chronic rhinosinusitis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the nasal mucociliary clearance time in GERD patients and if any correlations could be assumed.


METHODS
Fifty GERD patients endoscopically diagnosed underwent an ear, nose and throat evaluation. The saccharin test and the 20-Item Sino-nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-20) were administered to 50 participants who correspond to our inclusion criteria. The saccharin test is a validated proof to verify the nasal mucociliary clearance time and the SNOT-20 is a disease-specific, health-related quality of-life questionnaire widely used for the assessment of rhinosinusitis.


RESULTS
Thirty-seven (74%) patients showed a significant increment in their saccharin test values in comparison with the others subjects (23.79+/-5.58 vs 8.15+/-2.06min; P=0.0001). This group of patients reported only typical gastroesophageal symptoms (GES) without any other complaint. Gastroesophageal endoscopic findings revealed some interesting and unexpected results in this subgroup. The remainder of patients considered (13/50; 26%) showed normal values for nasal mucociliary clearance time and they referred only typical extraesophageal symptoms (EES). In any case and in both groups rhinosinusitis complaints were present. The SNOT-20 test results were normal in all patients even if a significant difference for GES group could be highlighted (19.3 vs 7.4; P<0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the assumption of possible and important correlations between nasal mucociliary clearance time and GERD. GERD could be an altering factor for nasal function also in absence of laryngo-pharyngeal symptoms although to verify this interesting hypothesis more validated data are necessary.
Delehaye
E
E
University Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of Sassari, Italy. delemy@tiscali.it
Dore
M P
MP
Bozzo
C
C
Mameli
L
L
Delitala
G
G
Meloni
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009079:Mucociliary Clearance / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult