Chest
Clinical InvestigationsEffects of Different Mechanical Treatments on Nasal Resistance Assessed by Rhinometry
Section snippets
NR Measurement
NR was measured by active posterior rhinometry. The subjects breathed quietly through a rigid nasal mask, with the mouth occluded by a closed mouthpiece in which a 3-mm internal diameter catheter was inserted to measure pharyngeal pressure. Transnasal pressure (PTN) was measured by a differential pressure transducer (Sensym SCX 01D; Sunnival, Calif), one port of which was connected to the nasal mask and the other to the catheter. Nasal flow (V) was sensed by a screen pneumotachograph (Jaeger
Results
The K1 and K2 values obtained in the basal state are given in Table 1. In the basal state, no significant difference was observed between NRF and NRp (Table 1), and a highly significant correlation was found between these two estimates of NR (NRF = 1.43 NRp–0.83, r=0.99, p<0.0001).
As illustrated in Table 1, no significant change in K1 and K2 was observed with Respir+, whereas significant and comparable decreases in and K2 were observed with Nozovent and Pernazène (Table 1). The efficacy of the
Discussion
The efficacy of topical decongestants in reducing NR has been widely reported. By contrast, the objective efficacy of the mechanical treatments recently designed to open the nasal passages remains poorly documented,2, 3, 4 whereas the use of such treatments is becoming widespread, probably due to subjective criteria. This study was therefore initiated to quantify the respective effects on nasal resistance of two drug-free devices, namely an external nasal dilator (Respir+) and an internal nasal
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Alain Harf for helpful reviewing of the manuscript.
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