Cryotherapy for the Treatment of Chronic Rhinitis: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Chronic rhinitis impacts 60 million Americans and is associated with significant costs for patients. Although medical treatments are first line, some patients require surgical intervention such as vidian or posterial nasal neurectomy. Previous reviews have investigated the role of surgical management in chronic rhinitis, but none have investigated a longstanding treatment with recent interest: cryotherapy.

To identify the safety, efficacy, and durability of treatment response of cryotherapy in treating chronic rhinitis.

A systematic literature review was performed to identify studies that investigated the utility of cryotherapy in chronic rhinitis. Only studies with the primary objective of assessing the efficacy of cryotherapy on chronic rhinitis were included. Patients were classified as allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis (vasomotor rhinitis), or mixed rhinitis using the original author's criteria. Data were extracted regarding reported complications, treatment efficacy, and length of follow-up.

A total of 110 abstracts were identified, of which 15 were included in this review. Epistaxis and nasal obstruction were commonly reported complications. No serious adverse events were reported. For obstructive symptoms, "reduced" symptoms were reported in 63.4% to 100% of patients. In regard to rhinorrhea, reports of reduced symptoms were experienced from 77% to 100% of patients. Seven studies used only patient-reported improvements without stratifying results based on symptom type; general improvements ranged from 67% to 100%. Nine studies noted symptom improvement in nonallergic cohorts ranging from 67% to 97.5% of patients. Four studies noted improvement in allergic cohorts ranging from 63.4% to 80% of patients. Two studies noted improvement in patients with mixed pictures ranging from 92.5% to 100%.

Although cryotherapy appears safe and efficacious, heterogeneous past investigations with low-quality evidence make strong, evidence-based recommendations difficult to make. Further study with validated metrics and controlled populations is certainly warranted and should be encouraged.