• DOI:10.1097/00003072-200002000-00010
• Corpus ID: 6508606

Rhinoscintigraphy: a simple radioisotope technique to study the mucociliary system.

@article{DiGiuda2000RhinoscintigraphyAS,
  title={Rhinoscintigraphy: a simple radioisotope technique to study the mucociliary system.},
  author={Daniela Di Giuda and Jacopo Galli and Maria Lucia Calcagni and Luigi Corina and Gaetano Paludetti and F. Ottaviani and Giuseppe De Rossi},
  journal={Clinical nuclear medicine},
  year={2000},
  volume={25 2},
  pages={
          127-30
        }
}

• D. Di Giuda, J. Galli, +4 authors G. De Rossi
• Published 1 February 2000
• Medicine
• Clinical nuclear medicine

PURPOSE
This was a radioisotope study of nasal mucociliary clearance of total and subtotal nasal obstruction.

METHODS
Rhinoscintigraphy was performed by insufflating 1.85 MBq (69 mCi) Tc-99m MAA in 20 patients. Six cases were regarded as the control group, because the presence of small spurs does not affect nasal patency. The remaining 14 patients had various rhinopathic conditions. Two regions of interest were selected, one in the nasal cavity and one in the pharynx. Mucociliary transport speed was calculated.

RESULTS
This parameter appeared to be a sensitive index for the assessment of the degree of mucociliary alteration. It showed that polyposis impairs mucociliary transport most severely, thus confirming the results of other published studies.

CONCLUSIONS
Rhinoscintigraphy proved to be a reliable, easily reproducible, and harmless method, so it may be used for follow-up examinations in patients who have had surgery of the nose and paranasal sinuses, and for drug therapy of rhinopathic conditions.