A study of poor responders for long-term, low-dose macrolide administration for chronic sinusitis.

Purpose: We investigated the clinical factors (CT images, endoscopic nasal findings and allergic factors) involved in resistance of chronic sinusitis to macrolide therapy (ME) retrospectively.

Methods: ME was administered for 8-20 weeks in 68 adults with chronic sinusitis cases. The effect was evaluated in each factor from radiographic findings (R0-R3 according to the severity of the images), nasal findings (N0: no polyp, N1: a single polyp and N2: multiple polyps), allergic factors (A0: no allergy, A1: nasal allergy, A2: bronchial asthma) and objective nasal symptoms. In addition, an effect after polypectomy and histological examination were assessed for N1 and N2 groups.

Results: ME was effective in 70.6% (48/68 patients). The efficacy of ME was significantly less in the polyp group compared with the polyp-free group (p < 0.05). Therapeutic efficacy was significantly different between R1 and R3 groups (p < 0.05) with a tendency for worse outcome from R1 to R3. The efficacy in asthma patients was significantly less compared with patients with allergic rhinitis or no allergy (p < 0.05). The efficacy after polypectomy was significantly improved in N2 group but not in N1 group. The number of eosinophil/total inflammatory cells (%) in nasal polyps of resistant cases was significantly higher than in marked improved cases.

Conclusion: The efficacy of ME was less in patients with polyposis; CT scans indicating severe findings, bronchial asthma and polyps with increased eosinophil infiltrations. Polypectomy resulted in significant improvement in the efficacy of ME.