NASAL MUCOCILIARY CLEARANCE IN HEALTH AND DISEASE

Standard saccharine test is used to detect nasal mucociliary clearance time in healthy individuals both adults and children. The length of the nose was measured radiologically and with the help of a soft malleable rubber catheter. For healthy individuals, mean nasal mucociliary clearance lime is 8.2 minutes in children and 9.5 minutes in adults. The mean nasal mucociliary clearance rates were 11.1 mm/min for children and 12.7 mm/min for adults. Deviated nasal septum, chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, atrophic rhinitis, chronic smokers and patients with recent nasal packings were taken as diseased conditions in adults, whereas children with adenoid hyperplasia were taken for the study. In all of these, nasal mucociliary clearance was significantly prolonged.