Monitoring methods of nasal pathology

The importance of correct clinical and therapeutic monitoring of allergic r hinitis is understandable in the light of the social and economic impact of this pathology: its prevalence is over 10% of the total population all ove r the world. For the evaluation of the local nasal pathology we include: (1 ) anterior rhinoscopy, (2) active anterior rhinomanometry, (3) positioned a coustic rhinometry, (4) determination of mucociliary transport time, (5) sp ecific nasal provocation test. Active anterior rhinomanometry allows reliab le assessment of the nasal respiratory function, acoustic rhinometry shows the geometry of nasal cavity, mucociliary transport time is an indicator of the mucosa eutrophism. In our experience, the specific nasal provocation t est is one of the most important tests in this field. It is more sensitive than the skin test and the radioallergosorbent test (RAST) in the asymptoma tic phase and it is able to show organ allergies. In this study we review t he importance of this test and the methodology we commonly use. (C) 1999 El sevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.