Published Paper Details:

Nasal cytology directly reflects nasal inflammation and is an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of rhinitis. There is no single test as a gold standard for the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, but nasal smear for eosinophilia has been recommended as a tool for the diagnosis. It is a simple, cheap, non-invasive, reproducible, easy to perform and cost-effective as compared to other tests like skin prick test or radio-allergo-sorbent test, and also it is easily repeated on the same patient, which is essential in both the follow-up of the disease and to monitor the efficacy of medical and surgical interventions. Eosinophils in the nasal smear have been reported to display the best correlation with all the clinical and immunological parameters in allergic rhinitis. Despite its simplicity and proven utility in giving direction to the diagnostic study of many nasal diseases, nasal cytology paradoxically still remains underuse. There are several possible collection methods for nasal cytology, including nasal smear, swab, scraping, nasal lavage, and irrigation. The present literary review was undertaken to integrate the knowledge of nasal smear for eosinophils as the diagnostic tool in the diagnosis and treatment of nasal allergies. Details and facts on nasal smear for eosinophils were gathered from the published journals, PubMed, google scholar, research gate by using words like nasal secretion, nasal smear for eosinophil, nasal cytology, allergic rhinitis, biological markers etc., then analyzed and summarized the data. Therefore, it is concluded that the nasal smear for eosinophils is a well-known, cost-effective and easy to apply diagnostic method in the diagnosis and treatment of nasal allergies.