Allergic fungal sinusitis: learning from our failures

For more than five years, patients referred to the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas with allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS) have been managed using a regimen combining surgery, perioperative corticosteroids, and immunotherapy for relevant antigens (fungal and non-fungal). The initial success of this program has been previously reported. Continued experience with this treatment plan, however, has yielded some cases of recurrence of AFS. Careful review of these cases implicate two major factors associated with treatment failure: (1) lack of compliance with immunotherapy, and (2) inadequate initial surgical extirpation of all allergic mucin. These cases and associated factors will be discussed.