Effects of External Nasal Dilators on Nasal Respiration and Patency in HealthyKorean Adults: An Acoustic Rhinometric Study / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although physiological effects of external nasal dilators (ENDs) were recently reported on white and black people, there are no available data on Asians. Nasal geometry is affected by many factors such as race, age, or sex. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of ENDs on nasal respiration and patency in healthy Korean adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred healthy Korean adults (50 females and 50 males, aged 20 to 39 years) without nasal complaints, history of sinonasal surgery, nor major structural abnormalities of the nose were recruited. All subjects were required to assess their own sensation of nasal respiration on a 100 mm visual analog scale. Minimal cross-sectional areas (MCAs) and volumes from 0 cm to 5 cm from the nostril (V5s) of both nasal cavities were measured by acoustic rhinometry and added together to obtain the total MCA and V5, respectively. All measurements before application of an END were compared with those 5 minutes after application. RESULTS: The sensation of nasal respiration improved significantly after application of an END in both female and male. The END increased MCA and V5 significantly in both sexes. These acoustic rhinometric changes resulted in 21.1% (male) and 20.5% (female) increment in MCA and 10.0% (male) and 12.5% (female) increment in V5, respectively. However, there were no significant correlations between changes in the subjective and objective parameters. CONCLUSION: ENDs significantly improve the subjective sensation of nasal respiration and increase MCA and nasal cavity volume in healthy Korean adults. However, this improvement in nasal patency does not always coincide with the improvement in the subjective feeling of nasal respiration.

Clinical Significance of the Optokinetic Nystagmus Abnormality / 대한이비인후과학회지

Optokinetic nystagmus(OKN) is commonly employed in the assessment of central vestibular lesion. Asymmetry in the OKN has been found in lesions ipsilateral to the direction of the slow phase in parietal lobe, in brain stem, and in the cerebellum. Asymmetry of the OKN may also occur in peripheral vestibular lesions due to spontaneous nystagmus, and this may explain why even enhanced velocities of OKN are sometimes met in these patients. The ocular abnormality as congenital strabismus, extraocular paresis, and congenital nystagmus can cause abnormalities of optokinetic nystagmus. We investigated the clinical significance of OKN test and spontaneous nystagmus for differentiation of peripheral and central vestibular disorder. In this study, we recorded the optokinetic nystagmus by the electronystagmography. We divided the optokinetic response from normal to type III according to direction of the nystagmus and difference of(Rt-Lt) Vmean. At the result, all of the vestibuloneuronitis who had the optokinetic abnormality showed type I OKN abnormality with spontaneous nystagmus. Type II and type III OKN abnormality always appeared in central vertigo patients. Type I OKN abnormality could be seen in peripheral and central vertigo patient. But half of the central vertigo patients who had type I OKN abnormality did not have spontaneous nystagmus. We could not correlated OKN abnormality with specific location of central nervous system.