Nasal fractional exhaled nitric oxide analysis with a novel hand-held device.

AIM: To assess the performance of a novel hand-held nitric oxide (NO) analyzer in the measurement of nasal fractional exhaled NO (FE(NO)).

METHODS

In ten healthy subjects (controls) and ten patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), oral and nasal FENO were obtained with the NIOX MINO Airway Inflammation Monitor (Aerocrine AB, Solna, Sweden) on two consecutive days, complying with current standards.

RESULTS

Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of oral FENO was 0.91 and of nasal FE(NO) 0.79. In controls, mean (+/- SD) nasal FENO (40.3 +/- 23.6 ppb) was higher than oral FENO (15.6 +/- 2.7 ppb; p = 0.005). In CRS patients, mean oral FENO (23.9 +/- 12.2 ppb) was higher than in controls (15.6 +/- 2.7 ppb; p = 0.01). CRS patients with nasal polyps had lower nasal FE(NO) levels (19.7 +/- 5.9) than healthy controls (40.3 +/- 23.6 ppb; p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The novel hand-held NO analyzer was found suitable for nasal FE(NO) measurements. It may be useful in differentiating hyperplasic eosinophil rhinosinusitis from chronic unspecific rhinosinusitis. Moreover, nasal FE(NO) may be used to monitor the clinical course of CRS with polyps.