[Endonasal phototherapy in the treatment of allergic rhinitis]

In this study, we assessed the effect of endonasal phototherapy on quality of life, nasal obstruction and the other symptoms in allergic rhinitis with visual analog scale (VAS), sinonasal outcome test-20 (SNOT-20), and acoustic rhinometry.

Twenty-four patients (6 males, 18 females; mean age 41.3±13.0 years; range 20 to 60 years) suffering allergic rhinitis refractory to anti allergic drugs for at least two years were enrolled in the study. Each patient underwent a total of six sessions of endonasal phototherapy with Rhinolight (Rhinolight Ltd, Szeged, Hungary) performed three times a week for two weeks. During course of the investigation, additional therapy was not applied to any of the patients. Before and one month after treatment, patients completed visual analog scale and SNOT-20 forms and nasal obstruction was evaluated with acoustic rhinometry.

After the treatment, the mean VAS score and the mean total SNOT-20 score were found lower than the results before the therapy (p=0.0001, p=0.0001). A significant decrease was found in the scores of sneezing, nasal discharge, postnasal drainage, coughing after treatment (p=0.0001). During objective evaluation of nasal obstruction with acoustic rhinometry, no statistically significant difference was found between pre- and post-treatment findings.

Endonasal phototherapy is an effective modality in the treatment of symptomatology in allergic rhinitis patients refractory to antiallergic drugs. It is detected that endonasal phototherapy has positive effects on the quality of life. However, no effect on nasal obstruction was found with acoustic rhinometry which is an objective method.