Rhinitis (mucociliary)

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.