Abnormal nasal mucociliary clearance in patients with rhinitis and its relationship to concomitant chest disease.

Nasal mucociliary clearance was measured using a saccharin technique in 172 patients with perennial rhinitis (76 also had asthma) and in 121 patients with chronic infected rhinosinusitis (40 had asthma, 35 had bronchiectasis). All patient groups had significantly longer mean nasal mucociliary clearance times than that of a group of healthy subjects. Grossly prolonged clearance (greater than 60 minutes) occurred in significantly more patients with the clinical syndrome of chronic infected rhinosinusitis and bronchiectasis than in the syndromes of chronic infected rhinosinusitis with or without asthma, and perennial rhinitis with or without asthma. The abnormal clearance was shown not to be due to an intrinsic ciliary defect by in vitro examination of nasal cilia but probably to be due to a combination of mucus and ciliary factors in vivo.