Increased Absolute Eosinophill Count:is It Always Allergy ?

Abstract

To evaluate the role of absolute eosinophil count for the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study SETTING: Tertiary referral centre Main outcome measures: Correlation of AEC with allergic symptoms and HPE of inferior turbinates RESULTS: Out of the 50 cases selected for the study, absolute eosinphil count was found to be elevated among 35 cases and other 15 showed normal values. Histopathology report of 50 cases showed allergic turbinates in only 6 cases while others demonstrated chronic nonspecific inflammatory response. Of the 6 cases with histolopathological features of allergic rhinitis, only 2 specimens correlated with elevated absolute eosinophil count while remaining four were among normal counts. CONCLUSIONS: There is no correlation between allergic symptom and increased absolute eosinophil count with histopathological examination of excised inferior turbinates.* (* Since there are not many studies that has evaluated this aspect of allergic rhinitis, further studies are required.