[Cytograms of nasal mucosa in seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis].

The role of cytological analysis of nasal mucosa in seasonal and perennial rhinitis was addressed. The study was carried out in 55 subjects (25 females, 30 males) with seasonal allergic rhinitis and 44 patients (28 females, 16 males) with perennial allergic rhinitis. The cytological examination was carried out during the acute phase of the disease and depend on performing a differential count of epithelial and inflammatory effector cells. Patients with perennial allergic rhinitis demonstrated decreased number of cells in comparison with subjects with seasonal rhinitis. The cytogram of these subjects was characterized by increased number of squamous epithelial cells (27.5%) while in seasonal rhinitis the number did not exceed 17.5% (p < 0.05). In addition the number of neutrophils was higher in perennial allergic rhinitis than in pollinosis (respectively 16.8% and 10.6%). Eosinophils were seen more often in seasonal than perennial rhinitis (27.6%, 17.2%, p < 0.05). The increased number of eosinophils correlated with sneezing in pollinosis (r = 0,543, t = 2,186, p < 0.05). This was not demonstrated in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. The authors conclude that cytograms of nasal mucosa allow to differentiate perennial from seasonal allergic rhinitis. This test is easy to perform and being non-invasive can be used in diagnosis and monitoring.