The allergic or non-allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the upper airways
with considerable impact on quality of life and worldwide prevalence ranging from 10 to
20%. The inflammation observed in this pathology leads to structural changes in upper airway
mucosa, but the mechanism still unclear. The Initiative Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on
Asthma (2008) postulated the theory of united airways disease due to extensive inter relationships between rhinitis and asthma, because this diseases would be a pathologic
continuum. With the development of this theory, doubts were originated if the histological
changes of the upper and lower airways are similar. Studies have shown changes in upper
airway mucosa, for example metaplasia, epithelial erosion, basement membrane, thickening,
intense inflammatory infiltrate and glandular hyperplasia, besides other findings on electron
microscopy, all in less that occurred in the lower airways of patients with asthma. Objective:
To describe and evaluate histological findings of lower nasal turbinate mucosa of patients
with and without allergic rhinitis. Methodology: a prospective, longitudinal descriptive study
was submitted and approved by the Ethics Committee in Research of the Federal University
of Pará. The study was conducted at the University Hospital Bettina Ferro de Souza, with
patients undergoing turbinectomy surgery from March 2010 to June 2011. Clinical data were
obtained through the research protocol (Appendix A) completed by the medical examiner.
The inferior nasal turbinate samples were sent for histopathological examination performed
by a single pathologist and studied microscopically. Results: Samples were obtained from 14
patients, ten men and four women ranging in age from 17 to 56 years. Three (21.4%) patients
had non-allergic rhinitis (prick test negative) and 11 (78.6%) diagnosed with allergic rhinitis
(prick test positive). The main symptoms reported were sneezing with 78.6% followed by
nasal obstruction with 71.4%. The analysis of the lamina showed the following findings:
100% had respiratory epithelium and lymphocytic infiltration, glandular hyperplasia 85.7%,
64.3% of the basement membrane thickening, eosinophilia 50% and 28.6% erosion of the
epithelium. Conclusion: The population consisted mostly of men with a mean age of 35
years. Among patients prick test negative to most are female. The patients had positive prick
test present secretory-like symptoms and the patients with a negative result complained of
nasal obstruction. All patients had inflammatory infiltration mainly of the mild type. Among
patients prick test positive were marked the presence of eosinophilia, but it was not possible
to relate this with the severity of symptoms.
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