In an attempt to determine whether human subjects can sense acute change of nasal patency, we compared measured values of nasal resistance with degree of subjective sensation of nasal stuffiness before and after decongestion of the nasal mucosa in 86 adult patients referred to our laboratory for objective assessment of nasal patency.
Only half the subjects recognized the change of sensation appropriately. Moreover, in these subjects the degree of subjective change after decongestion was poorly correlated with reduction of nasal resistance. The remaining subjects were unaware of any change although nasal resistance values were reduced significantly after decongestion of the nasal mucosa.
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