Comparison of Mupirocin ointment and basic fibroblast growth factor gel in the treatment of pediatric recurrent...

The objective of this study was to compare the short-and medium-term effectiveness of Mupirocin ointment (2 %) (MUO) and recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor eye-gel (bFGF) in the treatment of recurrent anterior epistaxis (RAE) in children.

children with RAE were randomly allocated into MUO group or bFGF group. The recurrence epistaxis,epistaxis severity score (ESS),and visual analog scale (VAS) were compared among two groups at 4 weeks and 3 months.

This study included 371 children with RAE.The recurrence epistaxis was 44.57 % in the MUO group and 30.81 % in the bFGF group at posttreatment 4 weeks (P < 0.05). Also, the recurrence epistaxis rate was 63.59 % in the MUO group and 28.65 % in the bFGF group at posttreatment 3 months (P < 0.001). Furthermore, in the MUO group, there was not significant difference in the recurrence epistaxis rate between the patients with AR and non-AR at posttreatment 4 weeks (P > 0.05), while there was not significant difference in the recurrence epistaxis rate between the patients with AR and non-AR at posttreatment 4 weeks (P = 0.309) in the bFGF group. In the MUO group, 42.5 % patients reported the pricking of nasal cavity and discomfort in 70.4 %, whereas no any patients did in the bFGF group. Moreover, at each follow-up time point, the mean ESS score in the bFGF group was significantly lower than that in the MUO group.VAS scores for itchy nose or nasal crusts, the improvement in the bFGF group was better compared with the MUO group at 4 weeks and 3 months.

bFGF Gel has a lower rate of recurrent epistaxis and better short-and medium-term effectiveness in the treatment of RAE in children compared with Mupirocin ointment, additionally, bFGF has no the pricking and discomfort of nasal cavity,thus resulting in well children's compliance.