Nasal irrigation with Nasir® in children: a preliminary experience on nasal cytology

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and upper airway respiratory infections are frequent in children, and both have a relevant impact on some social aspects, including school attendance and performance, sleep, quality of life (also of the parents), and costs. Saline nasal irrigation is widely employed to reduce nasal congestion and mucopurulent secretion, to stimulate cleansing of the nasal and paranasal cavities, and to induce restoration of mucociliary clearance. The present study evaluated the effects of nasal irrigation on nasal cytology, using the new device Nasir® in 66 children (40 males, 26 females, mean age 7.31±1.7 years, age range 4-17 years) with allergic rhinitis. The patients were treated with nasal irrigation with warm (36°C) Nasir® (250 mL sacs of premixed solution): one sac twice daily for 12 days. Nasal irrigation significantly reduced the neutrophilic infiltrate (baseline median value 2.8±0.7; post treatment value 2±0.5; p less than 0.05). In addition, there was a reduction of eosinophil infiltrate (T0= 3.2±1.1; T1= 2.6±1.2; p= less than 0.05). There was no significant change with regard to bacteria (T0= 2.7±0.9; T1= 2.3±1.02; p= 0.17). In conclusion, this pilot study reports that nasal irrigation with Nasir® might be useful to attenuate upper airway inflammation.