Detection of the nasal cycle

The nasal cycle is a fluctuation of nasal patency due to the stages of cong estion and decongestion of the nasal mucosa on both the light and left nasa l conchae. We compared the effectiveness of the rhinostereometer in detecti ng the presence of a nasal cycle with the acoustic rhinometer whose effecti veness we have demonstrated in previous studies. The rhinostereometer measu res the horizontal range of the most anterior portion of the inferior turbi nate. The acoustic rhinometer measures the volume and various cross-section al areas of the nostril using a pulse emitted from a sound tube. Among some of the subjects tested, it was found that rhinostereometer and acoustic rh inometer measurements of nasal patency correlated reasonably well with r va lues up to 0.78. The overall correlation between rhinostereometry and acous tic rhinometry was not as strong at r = 0.36. Observed variations between r hinostereometry and acoustic rhinometry could be a result of certain confou nding variables that may have altered the nasal cycle between measurements.