Jack M. Gwaltney

Radiopaque contrast dye in nasopharynx reaches the middle ear during swallowing and/or yawning.

Conclusion Contrast dye in the nasopharynx reaches the middle ear during swallowing and yawning in normal adults. This suggests that displacement of bacteria in nasopharyngeal secretion to the middle ear may occur frequently during sleep. Objective The middle ear is sterile under normal conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine by means of CT whether radiopaque contrast dye in the nasopharynx would reflux into the middle ear of normal adults during swallowing and/or yawning. Material and methods Six normal adult volunteers were studied. Contrast dye was kept at the orifices of the Eustachian tube during swallowing and/or yawning by placing volunteers in either a head-down or lateral decubitus position. Reflux was determined by the presence of contrast dye in the middle ear on CT scanning of the temporal bone. Results Two of the three volunteers in each group (four out of six in total) had contrast material detected in one or both middle ear cavities.

Cross-Linked Fibrin in the Nasal Fluid of Patients with the Common Cold

Abstract To determine whether adherent material found on the walls of the paranasal sinuses during common colds might be fibrin clot, we examined the nasal fluid (a surrogate for sinus secretion) of 11 young adults with experimentally induced rhinovirus colds and that of 4 control subjects for the presence of fibrin. The mean concentration (± the standard error) of insoluble fibrin (measured as D-dimer) in subjects with rhinovirus colds increased from a baseline level of 0.8 ± 0.4 µg/mL to a peak of 2.4 ± 0.7 µg/mL (P = .0008) on day 4 after inoculation of the virus, but the fibrin concentration remained at baseline levels in the 4 uninfected control subjects.