Journal Reviews
How best can we manage Samter’s Triad/AERD?
The classic ‘Samter’s Triad’ of asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP), and aspirin sensitivity is now referred to as aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory-exacerbated respiratory disease. We often come across in our rhinology setting, patients with recalcitrant...
Does endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis improve COPD?
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) can be associated with asthma, with a reported frequency of asthma in patients with CRS of up to 44%. COPD is another lung condition that can be associated with CRS. This longitudinal study reviewed the nasal and...
Does sleep quality improve when we adequately treat CRS?
In addition to the well-known symptoms associated with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), patients often suffer with poor sleep quality which is also detrimental to health and wellbeing. This meta-analysis looked at 35 papers reporting outcomes for CRS patients post surgery on...
Earlier intervention to correct anosmia?
This is an interesting study aimed to determine the timing for successful surgical intervention in improving the sense of smell in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). A total of 86 CRSwNP patients with loss of smell and...
IL-25 and nasal polyps, another target
Immune response in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is mainly via type 2 T-helper (Th2) cells while Th1 cells characterise chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) immune response. CRSwNP is heterogeneous on a cytological level causing a varied response...
Stenting and sinus surgery
Stents are used in sinus surgery with the aim of maintaining patency of sinus cavity avoiding restenosis from inflammation or scarring. The exact indication for stenting in sinus surgery however is still debated. The authors discussed the potential role of...
A review of topical treatments for chronic rhinosinusitis
Topical nasal treatment is considered the mainstay treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The authors reviewed the effectiveness of saline irrigation, topical corticosteroids, topical antibiotics and topical antifungals in the treatment of CRS. Large volume saline irrigation was found to be...
A new biomarker for chronic rhinosinusitis
This Chinese study looked at the feasibility of periostin (usually found in bone and lung tissue) as a biomarker for chronic rhinosinusitis. They sampled ethmoid mucosa in 12 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyposis (CRSsNP) and 25 patients with...
Comparison of outcomes after septoplasty
For this prospective study, the authors assessed the quality of life (QoL) with the rhinosinusitis SNOT-20 (Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20) questionnaire and the symptoms on a visual analogue scale (VAS) in all patients undergoing nasal septal surgery. The patients reported the...
A review of endoscopic sinus surgery outcomes
This review discusses the outcome measures that may be considered in the assessment of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) as well as the outcomes of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) published so far. The authors also discuss the role of peri-operative...
Passive smoking and rhinosinusitis
One would expect that subjects exposed to more passive smoke would have a significantly increased level of rhinosinusitis. This study looked at a reasonable number of sinusitis and control subjects (404 and 165) using hair nicotine as an assessment of...
