The pragmatic role of nasal cytology: a point-of-care testing to implement precision medicine in clinical practice.
BACKGROUND
Precision medicine is an up-to-date strategy aimed at individualizing precise pathophysiological mechanisms. Thus, precision medicine is the basis for personalized medicine, inasmuch as it seeks to define the most appropriate treatment for each patient. Nasal cytology requires only an optical microscope, stains, glasses, and nasal cytology curettes. The procedure may last very few minutes using quick staining and, therefore, it can be considered a reliable point-of-care test in the office setting.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study that included 5030 outpatients with nasal disorders: 2612 males and 2418 females, with a mean age of 36.8 ± 17.1 years, who were attended to within a 5-year period. The patients were subdivided according to skin prick-test and nasal cytology results into subjects with allergic rhinitis or non-allergic rhinitis. Cellular forms were further subdivided based on their cytotype: NARNE (> 50% of neutrophils with absence of spores and bacteria); NARES (> 20% of eosinophils); NARMA (> 10% of mast cells); and NARESMA (> 20% of eosinophils and > 10% of mast cells).


RESULTS
453 subjects (9%) had negative nasal cytology, 1056 (21%) had allergic rhinitis, 538 (10.7%) had NARES, 493 (9.8%) had nasal polyposis, 251 (5%) had rhinosinusitis, 221 (4.4%) had NARESMA 201 (4%) had infectious rhinitis, 131 (2.6%) had NARMA, 89 (1.8%) had NARNE, with the remaining subjects having a miscellaneous inflammatory/infectious profile.


CONCLUSIONS
Nasal cytology provides quick information about phenotype and endotype and can be repeated during follow-up to assess post-treatment changes.
['Gelardi|Matteo|M|', 'Landi|Massimo|M|', 'Ciprandi|Giorgio|G|']
D000328:Adult D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D009666:Nose D000067716:Point-of-Care Testing D057285:Precision Medicine D012220:Rhinitis
Nasal cytology Precision medicine Rhinitis Allergy