A comparative study of nasal smear and nasal biopsy in the confirmation of the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in a tertiary hospital of Rohtas district, Bihar

Background: Allergic rhinitis is an IgE mediated immunological response of nasal mucosa to air born allergens is characterized by watery nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, sneezing and itching in the nose. Objective of this study was to compare and determine the efficacy of nasal smear and nasal biopsy in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Methods: In this study of total number of patients were 100. These were divided in two group, test and control group and each group contain 50 cases. This study was performed in the period of April 2017 to March 2018 in the department of Otorhinolaryngology, Narayan Medical College and Hospital, Jamuhar, Sasaram, Bihar. Nasal Punch biopsy was taken from the inferior turbinate from the selected patient of allergic rhinitis under local anesthetic agent like 2% Xylocaine with adrenaline. Results: The mean age of the patient undergoing the study was 35.88±13.22 in the study group and 32.96±10.71 in the control group. In this study, sample are matched with p=0.228. Eosinophil in nasal smear is significantly more associated with cases with pu003c0.001. Mast cells in nasal smear is significantly more associated with cases with P=0.006. Conclusions: Nasal biopsy is better than nasal smear in diagnosing eosinophils in case of allergic rhinitis but for diagnosing mast cells biopsy is not sensitive enough in compared to nasal smears. So nasal biopsy can be used as a diagnostic test for allergic rhinitis.