[The intranasal provocative test with use of "passive anterior rhinomanometry" in the specific diagnosis of allergic rhinitis].

77 patients with suspected allergic rhinitis to inhalative allergens were studied. Skin tests, RAST determinations and nasal provocation tests, performed by placing a cotton-pledge with aqueous allergen and by "passive anterior rhinomanometry" (PAR), were carried out. This latter test was evaluated by determining nasal resistance and by measuring the temperature variations before and after allergen aerosol inhalation with use of a Heyer-PAR rhinomanometer-sprayer by the method of van Dishoeck. Among 30 hay-fever patients with positive prick tests to grasses or to birch pollens, the overall agreement of PAR with the other allergological diagnostic methods was 90 +/- 5%. Evaluation of a further 47 patients with perennial rhinopathy and suspected allergy to house dust, housedust mite and different molds showed that PAR serves to clarify the allergy diagnosis more reliably than the other methods. The advantages and the negative aspects of PAR are briefly discussed.