Allergic nasal polyps under scanning electron microscope

The study material consisted of 18 patients (10 men, 8 women, aged 26-66 years), suffering from recurrent nasal polyps and bronchial asthma. Nine patients manifested intolerance to aspirin and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The polyps removed during one of polypectomies were analysed with the help of scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to evaluate the morphology of their surface. All the specimens displayed the increase in areas of cilium-free epithelium, covered with short microvilli and squamous epithelial cells. The arrangement of these changes was irregular and they were more pronounced in patients with intolerance to aspirin and NSAIDs. Apart from this, there were no other differences which would allow to differentiate in SEM investigation between polyps derived from patients with and without tolerance to NSAIDs.