Role of Amphotericin B in Nasal Irrigation for Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of topical antifungal irrigation fluid containing amphotericin B on nasal polyp and their recurrence pattern, and to study the association of serum IgE in predicting the presence of fungus along with the nasal polyps. STUDY DESIGN: An interventional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Dow University Hospital, Dow International Medical College, DUHS, Karachi, from June 2015 to June 2017. METHODOLOGY: All adult patients having nasal polyps, who had not undergone any previous nasal surgery, were included in the study. Patients aged under 18 years, history of granulomatous diseases, immunosuppression, invasive fungal sinusitis, and pregnant ladies were excluded from the study. The ratio was kept as 1:2; one receiving irrigation with amphotericin B and the other only saline nasal irrigation without the medicine. After surgery, the patients were divided into two groups; 58 patients were in the placebo group and 29 in the amphotericin group. Serum IgE levels were documented before and one month postoperative treatment. Serum IgE level of more than 250 ng/ml was taken as a high value. All the patients were followed for six months. Recurrence was defined as the recurrence of nasal symptoms and recurrence of mucosal thickening based on repeat CT scan. Frequency tables and cross tabulations using Chi-square test were performed with p-values of 0.05 taken as significant were performed on different variables. RESULTS: A total of 87 patients were inducted. Overall 22 (25.3%) patients had recurrence of symptoms at six-month followup visit. Twelve (13.7%) of these were in the placebo group and 10 (11.5%) were in the amphotericin B nasal irrigation group. Serum IgE level preoperatively ranged between 52 - 9344 ng/dl; postoperatively it ranged from 13-1050 ng/dl. When pre and postoperative serum IgE level were compared with each other and CT scan scores, using Chi-square test, the difference was significant (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Amphotericin B improved the CT scan score of the patients. The nasal irrigation of amphotericin B did not show significant change in the recurrence pattern of chronic sinuses with polyps. Serum IgE can be used as marker for the presence and response to treatment for non-invasive fungal sinusitis.