Background: Passive humidifiers (PH) have been beneficial to upper and lower airway humidity, especially in patients who are in a long-time ventilated intensive care unit. The goal of this pilot study was to provide nasal conditioning data and measure the benefit of a nasal PH to spontaneously breathing, conscious subjects.
Methods: Eleven healthy volunteers had to wear a PH for 1 hour, which was introduced into both nasal vestibules. The PH had a heat and moisture restoring body of polyurethane foam with an open-pore structure. Before and after application of the nasal PH, nasal conditioning was measured and nasal symptoms were assessed by the participants.
Results: Ten minutes after removal of the PH a significant increase was observed for the scores for nasal patency and nasal humidity.
Conclusion: We hypothesize that the nasal PH could provide a valuable contribution to the supportive therapy of diseases that accompany nasal mucosal dryness.