mucociliary rhinitis
Last reviewed 01/2018
Rhinitis may result from mucociliary clearance abnormalities which may be either:
- primary:
- impaired ciliary action e.g. Kartagener's syndrome
- hyperviscus mucus with normal ciliary action e.g. Young's syndrome
- secondary - following upper respiratory tract infection
Secondary mucociliary clearance abnormalities are by far the more common in this category. The presence of infection may alter the viscosity of the mucus or inhibit ciliary action thereby impairing normal mucociliary clearance.
A simple test for mucociliary rhinitis is the nasal saccharin clearance test.