This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Dermatology  • General Rhinology  • Hypersensitivity  • Immunology  • Allergy  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

An Optical Rhinometric Study

Eike G. Wüstenberg, MD; Mandy Scheibe, MD; Thomas Zahnert, PhD; Thomas Hummel, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006;132:277-281.

Objective  To determine whether the inferior turbinate, which contains swelling bodies, and the nasal septum (Kiesselbach area), characterized by a dense arterial mesh, exhibit different swelling mechanisms in allergic nasal reactions.

Design  Two optical rhinometers were used to examine 11 patients in the clinic. Optical rhinometry is based on the transillumination of the nasal septum and inferior turbinate or the whole nose with monochromatic light. The instrument's wavelength can be adjusted to the absorption characteristics of reduced hemoglobin, oxygen-saturated hemoglobin, and water.

Setting  Outpatient university otolaryngology clinic.

Patients  Eleven young, healthy, nonsmoking, nonpregnant subjects (6 men and 5 women), mean age, 32.4 years (age range, 27-37 years), with no history of exposure to toxic substances, allergies, or other significant diseases.

Interventions  Optic rhinometry evaluation during the course of nasal histamine administration.

Main Outcome Measures  Light extinction at various wavelengths.

Results  Following administration of histamine, in the nasal septum, the wavelength of 950 nm (edema) showed the strongest increase of light extinction; in the inferior turbinate, it was the wavelength of 786 nm (oxygenated hemoglobin). In the whole nose, the wavelength of 880 nm (edema plus hemoglobin) exhibited the largest increase of extinction.

Conclusions  Swelling of the nasal septum (Kiesselbach area) in nasal allergic reactions is caused mainly by edema, whereas swelling of the inferior turbinate is due mainly to an increase in volume of blood that is highly saturated with oxygen. Swelling of the whole nose is characterized by the combination of both, edema and increase in blood volume.

Author Affiliations: Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Universitätsklinik, Dresden, Germany.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?