Many techniques for measuring nasal patency have been developed in search for a reliable, easily performed and reproducible method. Rhinomanometry is easily performed in the clinic but daily records of nasal blocking cannot be obtained. In this study we examined the correlation between posterior rhinomanometry (PR), nasal peak flow (nPF), the ratio nasal patency index (NPI), and the opening interrupter method (Rtn) for measuring nasal patency. Twenty-eight subjects with no symptoms of rhinitis and 20 patients with diagnosed rhinitis were investigated. A significant (p less than 0.05) correlation was found between PR and nPF after stratification according to the diagnosis of rhinitis and between nPF, PR, and height. All other correlations tested proved non-significant. We conclude that PR is the method which ought to be used in the hospital, but nPF is an easy way to measure nasal patency and might even be used by the patient at home.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Bronchial challenge: a small reservoir for the Wright jet nebulizer.

A small reservoir for the Wright jet nebulizer was constructed and tested with regard to output and particle size characteristics. The Wright nebulizer has found widespread use for bronchial challenge testing. The new small reservoir delivers an aerosol with a size distribution comparable to that delivered from the standard reservoir. Comparable results were obtained when bronchial challenge with either the small or the standard reservoir was performed in 11 patients. The cost for bronchoconstrictor can be reduced by 50-80% by reducing the volume necessary for challenge. It is documented that calibration of the actual set-up is necessary to control the output from a nebulizer, since the output is, not linearly correlated to the flow.

Bronchial Provocation Tests↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Bronchial challenge: ventilation during 'tidal volume breathing' inhalation is not constant.

Standardization of bronchial challenge (BC) in order to improve repeatability of both non-specific and specific challenges is desirable. In the tidal volume breathing BC (tBC), the patient inhales bronchoconstrictor during the entire inspiratory phase of the tidal volume breathing. We determined 2 min ventilation (VE) at each histamine concentration during 187 BCs. Thirty-four patients were challenged twice. We used a standard technique (Cockcroft), except for our patient operated Pari nebulizer. Between-subject (SD = 37%) as well as within-subject (SD = 21%) (p less than 0.01) variations in VE were observed. Furthermore, VE during inhalation of threshold dose (VE-threshold) was smaller than VE during inhalation of the previous dose (VE-threshold-1) (p less than 0.001). For paired differences in VE during two challenges, the within subject SD was 21%. The between subject SD for VE was 32%. VE-threshold was lower in first challenge (p less than 0.001). VE threshold in both challenges was significantly lower than VE-threshold-1. These observations indicate that the respiratory pattern during tBC needs further standardization and that respiratory frequency and inspiratory time during tBC would be worth investigating.

Adolescent↗