[Therapeutic effect of roxithromycin on chronic sinusitis with nasal -- polyps clinical, computed tomography, and...

To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Roxithromycin (RXM), we studied 56 chronic sinusitis patients with nasal polyps using computed tomography (CT) and electron microscopy in addition to conventional clinical assessment. The paranasal sinus of subjects was observed clinically before and after daily administration of RXM at 300 mg for 3 months all underwent allergy testing for possible complications of allergic rhinitis based on subjective symptoms and objective findings. Improvement after RXM treatment was seen in 50.3% based on subjective symptoms and 59.1% based on objective findings. Overall improvement was seen in 53.6%. In 41 cases (73.2%) of all patients with chronic sinusitis and complications of allergic rhinitis, no significant difference was seen between patients with and without complications (53.7% in those with complications and 53.3% in those without). In CT analysis the paranasal sinus in 51.8% of all posttreated patients showed obvious improvement. In electron microscopy in chronic sinusitis patients with complications of allergic rhinitis, pretreated ethmoidal sinus tissues showed high mucous epithelial cell apoptosis in addition to common histological lesions, while posttreatment patients showed only eosinophil apoptosis in the interstitium and no apoptotic epithelial cells. We divided ethmoidal sinus lesions in patients without complications into 3 types and evaluated them as follows: In type 1, pretreated ethmoidal sinus tissues showed plasma cell infiltration and posttreatment cell apoptosis. In type 2, pretreated tissues showed lymphocyte and plasma cell infiltration and posttreated showed only some lymphocytes and no plasma cells. In type 3, proliferation of fibroblasts, most of which showed apoptosis, was seen in addition to apoptotic epithelial cells before treatment, while after treatment, these lesions remained with some apoptotic bodies phagocytosed by macrophages. In type 3 patients relapsed after surgery. Our findings indicate that RXM treatment had a significant therapeutic effect on chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps with and without complications of allergic rhinitis. We clarify the morphological mechanism of therapeutic effect of RXM on each type of ethmoidal sinus lesion divided by light and electron microscopy.