Immunotherapy in patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

A total of 283 consecutive patients with chronic sinusitis underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery. There were 72 allergic patients and 211 nonallergic patients. Data were collected on the effect of immunotherapy on middle meatotomy patency, synechiae formation, and recurrent polyps in allergic patients. Data supported the following conclusions: (1) Immunotherapy given either before or after surgery does not statistically influence middle meatotomy patency, synechiae formation, or recurrence of polyps after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. However, the data do suggest, for all three outcome parameters, that allergic patients who undergo immunotherapy do better than those who do not undergo immunotherapy and, with the exception of recurrent polyps, do as well as nonallergic patients. (2) The prevalence of preoperative polyps is the same for allergic and nonallergic patients in this study, but polyp recurrence is higher in allergic patients. (3) Approximately 40% of allergic patients who began preoperative immunotherapy stopped immunotherapy after surgery because their allergic symptoms resolved or were minimal. A comment regarding this observation is provided.