Rhinomanometric examination using an active anterior method is a very simple and highly reproducible method. It can evaluate the extent of nasal constriction, which is a unmeasurable subjective symptom, in terms of an objective index of “nasal resistance.” In this study, the usefulness of rhinomanometry in the rhinologic examination and assessment of the effccts of nasal surgery were investigated.
The nozzle anterior method, which can perform rhinomanometric examination during the limited time of an rhinologic examination, has proved to be an outstanding method. The extent to which the nasal cavity is constricted could be determined more accurately by using nasal resistance figures measured in advance. Total nasal resistance was well correlated with the “feeling” of the nasal constriction in most cases. However, many persons with favorable total nasal resistance complained of symptoms of nasal constriction when the difference between right and left nasal resistance was great.
In our nasal surgery, one or more of various procedures, such as septum correction, conchotomy, endonasal sinusectomy with lateral wall correction and radical operation of maxillary antrum, are carried out, depending on the symptoms present in the particular case in order to reconstruct the morphology of the nasal sinus so as to ensure physiological air flow within the nasal cavity. The effectiveness of nasal surgery for persons with nasal constriction has been acknowledged for a long time. The rhinomanometric measurements carried out before and after the nasal surgery have proved objectively that nasal resistance was significantly improved by the operations.
As shown above, rhinomanometry has proved very useful in measuring the extent of nasal constriction. However, even if the air flow within the nasal cavity is disturbed in part, rhinometric measurements may sometimes suggest low nasal resistance when there is a space in the nasal cavity through which air can flow. Utmost care should be taken in rhinometry to avoid such problems.
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