THE COMPARISON OF ACOUSTIC RHINOMETRY AND NASAL SPIROMETRY IN EVALUATING THE FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY OF THE NASAL AIRWAY IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS

Materials and methods: Twenty-five healthy subjects of whom 15 were women and 10 were men with a mean age of 28.41 included in this study. Before beginning of the study, subjects whom their nasal and sinus patologies were eliminated with anterior rinoscopy and transnasal endoscopy were examined with acoustic rinometry, nasal spirometry and oral spirometry.

Results: When the right and left nasal cavity were compared with the data of acoustic rinometry and nasal spirometry, it was not found any difference between them statistically (p>0.05), but it was found important correlation between two data statistically (p<0.05). As the parameters of acoustic rinometry and nasal spirometry for the right nasal cavity were compared in point of pulmonary function parameters, the anterior minimal section area and the anterior volume were found to have more important correlations than posterior minimal section area. When the parameters of acoustic rinometry and nasal spirometry for the left nasal cavity were compared, the anterior minimal section area and the anterior volume were found to have more important correlations than posterior volume and posterior minimal section area. When the nasal spirometry and the oral spirometry values were compared, we found statistically significant important correlations between them (p<0.05).

Conclusion: While acoustic rinometry is used to evaluate the anterior section of the nasal cavity and especially the nasal valv, nasal spirometry can evaluate objectively the whole nasal cavity in point of functional capacity. Moreover, the pulmonary functions could be evaluated by nasal spirometry with the same sensibility of the oral spirometry. This test is appraised as objective, easy to use and non- invasive method in evaluating the patency of nasal passages. Keywords : Nasal Airway, Acoustic Rhinometry, Nasal Spirometry