Analysis of local cytokine gene expression in patients with allergic rhinitis treated with CO2 laser surgery

Carbon Dioxide Laser Vaporization of the Inferior Turbinate for Allergic Rhinitis: Short-Term Results

Carbon dioxide laser vaporization of the turbinate has recently become accepted as a common treatment for allergic rhinitis. Usually, only a single procedure is applied to minimize trauma. However, repeated procedures on separate days are often required to achieve an adequate effect. Therefore, we attempted a new method of vaporization and evaluated the outcome, and also tried to determine which patients have good indications for laser treatment. To widely and deeply vaporize the inferior turbinate, we repeated the procedure 3 times in 1 session after removing the carbon coating from the previous vaporization under nasal endoscopic observation. After the procedure, most patients experienced complete nasal obstruction for 2 or 3 days, but there was no intraoperative or postoperative bleeding or severe pain. All patients obtained improvement of their chief complaints and were satisfied 2 months after the operation. In particular, 60% of the patients were completely relieved of refractory nasal obstruction. Most patients were more satisfied with the effects than are those treated by the usual methods. Completely successful cases (improvement in all symptoms and complete satisfaction obtained) were selected and were compared with other cases. Favorable prognostic factors are more severe complaints, longer symptomatic periods, stronger allergic reactions, and worse nasal resistance and its greater improvement with administration of decongestant nasal drops. This method may be especially accepted by patients with severe complaints, in particular nasal obstruction, who do not experience enough relief with conservative therapies or have enough time to make frequent visits to an outpatient clinic over a period of several weeks.

Management of radiation-induced early nasal adhesion after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

BACKGROUND

This study investigates the conservative management of radiation-induced early nasal adhesion after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODS

From June 2008 to June 2010, patients with bilateral or unilateral early nasal adhesion after radiotherapy for NPC were selected. All patients received endoscopic management and then nasal irrigation daily and nasal steroids spray for at least 3 months. All of the clinical data and follow-up endoscopy were analyzed.

RESULTS

There were 40 patients enrolled. The mean follow-up period was 19.6 months (range, 12-24 months) after procedure. Thirty-eight patients (95%) had patent nasal cavity during follow-up. Two patients (5%) had not received endoscopy regularly and developed severe fibrosis. For the whole group, nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, hyposmia, and xerostomia all were improved from before management according to visual analog score (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Therapeutic endoscopy in combination with nasal steroid sprays and nasal irrigation provides a convenient, simple, effective, and minimally invasive therapy to treat early radiation-induced nasal adhesion patients.

Measurements of nasal fractional exhaled nitric oxide with a hand-held device in patients with allergic rhinitis: relation to cedar pollen dispersion and laser surgery

BACKGROUND

There has been an increasing interest in monitoring the fractional concentrations of exhaled NO (FeNO) levels in allergic rhinitis (AR) patients. In the present study, we examined whether the nasal FeNO measurement might reflect the degree of local allergic inflammation as well as subjective symptoms.

METHODS

The FeNO measurement was performed using a handheld electrochemical analyzer (NObreath®) with a nose adaptor. In the cross-sectional study, 56 patients with perennial AR patients, 18 AR patients with bronchial asthma (BA), 12 patients with vasomotor rhinitis, and 30 normal subjects were enrolled. For the follow-up study, 12 seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) patients against Japanese cedar and 10 perennial AR patients who underwent laser surgery were examined.

RESULTS

The AR patients and vasomotor rhinitis patients showed significantly higher oral FeNO levels as compared with the normal subjects. The nasal FeNO levels were significantly higher in the perennial AR patients with or without BA than in the normal subjects and vasomotor rhinitis patients. There were positive correlations between the nasal symptom scores and FeNO levels. The SAR patients showed a significant decrease in the nasal FeNO level after the pollen dispersion season. In addition, the therapeutic effects of laser surgery in the AR patients accompanied a significant reduction in the nasal FeNO levels one month after treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

The nasal FeNO measurement by NObreath® is easy to perform and suitable for monitoring AR patients in various treatment modalities. Furthermore, it may have potential usefulness as a tool to improve daily clinical care.

Endoscopic Surgery for Acquired Choanal Atresia after Radiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Background

This study was designed to investigate the role of endoscopic surgery for acquired choanal atresia after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Methods

Twenty-two patients with bilateral or unilateral acquired choanal atresia received transnasal endoscopic surgery with the aid of a powered microdebrider to open atresia choana and received endoscopic sinus surgery simultaneously if they had sinusitis. Merocel epistaxis packing was used to pack the nasal airway for 3 days postoperatively. All of the patients underwent endoscopy regularly for follow-up.

Results

Sixteen patients with acquired bilateral choanal atresia and 6 with unilateral choanal atresia were included in this study. The median age was 46 years old (range, 33–65 years). Twenty-one patients had sinusitis. Sixteen patients with bilateral choanal atresia and 4 patients with unilateral atresia had bilateral sinusitis. One patient with unilateral atresia had ipsilateral sinusitis. The mean follow-up period was 35 months (range, 12–72 months) after surgery. Twenty patients were symptom-free after a single operation; nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, and xerostomia improved significantly for these patients. Two patients had unilateral restenosis that required revision surgery, and both were subsequently free from further restenosis. No complications occurred.

Conclusion

Acquired posterior choanal atresia after radiotherapy can be successfully treated with transnasal endoscopic resection assisted by a powered instrument without stenting.

Submucous turbinectomy combined with posterior nasal neurectomy in the management of severe allergic rhinitis: clinical outcomes and local cytokine changes

OBJECTIVES

Submucous resection of the inferior turbinate is one of the recommended methods to alleviate nasal symptoms in patients with severe allergic rhinitis patients in terms of postoperative results and preservation of nasal function. Posterior nasal neurectomy, recently developed by Kikawada, is a novel method to selectively cut the neural bundles out from the sphenopalatine foramen and to diminish the complaints of hypersecretion. This study was carried to examine the clinical effectiveness and changes in local cytokine levels of this combined surgical procedure.

METHODS

Twenty-three patients with severe perennial allergic rhinitis underwent submucous turbinectomy combined with posterior nasal neurectomy under general anesthesia. The patients' subjective nasal symptoms were examined at each visit. The levels of interleukin-5 (IL-5), eotaxin and regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) in nasal lavages were measured before and 6 month after surgery. Nasal mucosa of the inferior turbinate was also obtained for histopathological examination in some cases.

RESULTS

The mean symptom scores for sneeze, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, and total severity were all statistically decreased after surgery. Therapeutic effects continued to be apparent as long as 3 years after surgery. The mean levels of both IL-5 and eotaxin significantly decreased after surgery, but that of RANTES remained unchanged. Histopathological examination revealed that the number of inflammatory cells and nasal glands markedly reduced in lamina propria and the epithelial layer became covered with stratified columnar cells.

CONCLUSION

Submucosal turbinectomy with posterior nasal neurectomy has remarkably improved subjective nasal symptoms in patients with severe allergic rhinitis on a long-term follow-up basis. The present study also demonstrates that the clinical effectiveness of the procedure is accompanied by decreases in local inflammatory cell infiltration and the related cytokine production.

Laser surgery of the inferior turbinate for allergic rhinitis with seasonal exacerbation: an acoustic rhinometry study

Laser surgery has been used to successfully treat patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. We examined whether the numbers and types of sensitized allergens influence the effects of surgery. Two different groups (those allergic to house dust mites only, and those allergic to house dust mites and Japanese cedar pollen) prospectively underwent the same course of laser turbinectomy during the pollen dispersion season. The symptom scores for nasal obstruction significantly decreased in both groups, but the improvement of sneezing and rhinorrhea was less pronounced in the pollen group. We used acoustic rhinometry to measure postoperative changes in the nasal dimensions. Four months after treatment, the minimum cross-sectional area and nasal cavity volume had increased, respectively, by 61.7% and 30.7% in the house dust group, and by 30.7% and 16.2% in the pollen group. We conclude that laser surgery can be successfully applied to patients whose allergies show seasonal exacerbation by airborne pollen.

Nuclear factor-kappa B activation in the nasal polyp epithelium: relationship to local cytokine gene expression

OBJECTIVES

A panel of cytokines has been found to be important for eosinophil accumulation and activation in nasal polyps. The aims of this study were to ascertain whether the activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) occurred in the polyp epithelium, and to examine the relationship between the degree of activation and local cytokine gene expression.

STUDY DESIGN/METHODS

Nasal polyp specimens were obtained from 26 untreated patients. The proportion of nuclear translocation of the NF-kappaB p50 subunit in the polyp epithelium was quantitatively analyzed by a combination of fluorescent immunohistochemistry and a laser scanning confocal microscope image system. The levels of GM-CSF, IL-5, IL-8, IL-16, and eotaxin mRNA expression in the same speci-mens were measured using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

Both cytoplasmic and nuclear localization of the p50 subunit was observed mainly in the epithelial layer in all specimens. The percentages of epithelial cells with nuclear translocation ranged from 4.5% to 40.5% (median, 18%). Significant correlations were observed between the degree of epithelial NF-kappaB activation and the levels of IL-8, IL-16, and eotaxin mRNA expression (r = 0.468, 0.47, and 0.739, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The activation of NF-kappaB in the nasal polyp epithelium is responsible for the recruitment of inflammatory cells, particularly eosinophils, through the initiation of the transcriptional pathway of the related cytokines. The increased NF-kappaB activity in the polyp epithelium may reflect hypersensitivity to unknown stimuli.