Quantitative Study of Nasal Sensitivity of Patients with Nasal Allergy

Abstract

It is well known that the nasal sensitivity of nasal allergic patients to histamine solution is much more than that of normal persons. For the quantitative study of the nasal sensitivity of nasal allergic patients, 0.04ml of 0.1% histamine solution was sprayed to unilateral nasal cavity and the alteration of nasal air flow was measured by the equipment, which is adapted for measuring difference of bilateral nasal air flow. The difference of bilateral nasal air folw is called to be α in this paper. α=amplitude of sprayed side/amplitude of no-sprayed side Measuring the difference was done before and after spraying. α_1 is the difference before spraying and α_2 is after spraying. Then α_2/α_1 is computed and called to be 'P'. If the value of P is much less than 1.0, it means the nasal sensitivity to be high. In this study twenty-four nasal allergic patients and eleven normal persons were examined. Concerning to allergic patients, P is approximately 0.5 or less than 0.5. On the other hand, concerning to normal persons, P is approximately 1.0 or more than 1.0. This fact means that the nasal sensitivity of nasal allergic patients is much higher than that of normal persons, and that it is possible to observe nasal sensitivity in a quantitative way.