Assessing Recurrent Acute Rhinosinusitis Development in Posttransplant Patients: A Study on Sinus Surgery Necessity

Recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS) significantly decreases quality of life. Transplant recipients (TR) are particularly vulnerable to rhinologic conditions. There is a lack of guidelines for managing RARS in this population. Our study aims to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for RARS among TR and assess the need for sinus surgery within this group.

Retrospective cohort.

Mayo Clinic between 2017 and 2022.

A total of 1116 patients met the inclusion criteria and were divided based on the presence or absence of a new incident RARS diagnosis during the posttransplant period and frequency of sinus surgery. Logistic regression (LR) analysis was performed to identify the odds ratio.

In total, 111/1116 (9.95%) had RARS. Patients with RARS had an increased history of asthma, viral infection, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (P = .003) in the pretransplant period. According to the LR analysis, patients with neutropenia, RA, and mantle cell lymphoma were 1.91, 2.71, and 4.02 times more likely to develop RARS (95% CI: 1.19-3.05, P = .01), (95% CI: 0.90-8.14, P = .07), and (95% CI: 1.16-13.89, P = .02) during the posttransplant period, respectively. In those that developed RARS, only 5.5% failed medical therapy and required surgery.

This is the first cohort to investigate the incidence of RARS in TR and the predictive factors associated with its development posttransplant. We found that patients with pretransplant comorbidities such as RA, viral infections, hematologic deficiencies, and malignancies were at an increased risk for developing RARS, though this is not linked to an increased necessity for sinus surgery.