The clear and objective evaluation of nasal patency has been reason for investigation for more than 100 years. The development of trustworthy objective methods of measure has been slow, and even with some attempts, none has been generallly accepted, remaining for the majority of the rhinologists the diagnoses based on clinical history and on rhinoscopy. Acoustics Rhinometry is a technique to measure the relation between the transversal area and the distance of the nasal cavity. AIM: To study the nasal patency through acoustics rhinometry in regular patients. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical prospective. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We evaluated twenty patients aged 16 to 60. All of them underwent acoustics rhinometry examination before and after nasal decongestion, and the measures of MCA (minimum transversal area) and the distance have been analyzed. RESULTS: Average values of MCA 0,59 before and 0.60 after decongestion were found. CONCLUSION: We concluded that acoustics rhinometry is an objective, simple, fast, reproducible, trustworthy, non-invasive method diagnostic for evaluation of nasal patency in patients with chronic nasal obstruction.
acoustic rhinometry; nasal obstruction