Guidelines for nasal provocations with aspects on nasal patency, airflow, and airflow resistance. International Committee on Objective Assessment of the Nasal Airways, International Rhinologic Society.

Under the auspices of the International Rhinologic Society (IRS) there is an 'International Committee on Objective Assessment of the Nasal Airways'. In 1984 Rhinology published the Committee's recommendations regarding rhinomanometry (Clement, 1984). During the last Congresses of the European Rhinologic Society (ERS) a subcommittee within that committee has discussed nasal provocations and the value of measuring nasal patency, airflow and airflow resistance to evaluate such provocations. The following is an effort to a consensus of indications and techniques for nasal provocation and to a critical analysis of methods to measure the effects. Only the most known methods will be discussed, i.e. acoustic rhinometry, rhinostereometry, nasal peak airflow and rhinomanometry with its different techniques. For graded responses after provocations the use of such methods is of clinical value only in combination with scores from symptoms such as sneezes and secretion, as allergic rhinitis symptoms consist of obstruction, sneezing, itching and concomitant symptoms of the neighbouring organs. For research all methods can be recommended to be used and their respective value is depending on the specific scientific purposes.