Rhinomanometry

The importance of nasal obstruction is stressed as one of the cardinal symptoms in allergic rhinitis and the major symptom of the late phase reaction; therefore the objective measurement of this symptom is of the utmost importance. The international committee on objective assessment of the nasal airway advocated rhinomanometry as a reliable method for measuring this symptom. The author's experience with this method after nasal challenge during the early and late phase, in 18 patients and 10 normal volunteers, is discussed. If total nasal resistance is considered then 41% of the patients showed a late phase. When considering unilateral nasal resistance a late phase was observed in 82% of the patients.