gms | German Medical Science

81st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

12.05. - 16.05.2010, Wiesbaden

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Intranasal UV phototherapy for the management of nasal polyposis

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author Zsolt Bella - University of Szeged, Hungary
  • Edit Kadocsa - University of Szeged, Hungary
  • Andrea Koreck - Allux Medical Ltd., Palo Alto, USA
  • Lajos Kemeny - University of Szeged, Hungary

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 81. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. Wiesbaden, 12.-16.05.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. Doc10hnod543

doi: 10.3205/10hnod543, urn:nbn:de:0183-10hnod5434

Published: April 22, 2010

© 2010 Bella et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: Nasal polyps (NPs) are characterized by high recurrence rates despite medical andsurgical treatment. Recently, it has been shown that exposure of NPs to ultraviolet light (UV) results in induction of apoptosis of inflammatory cells. Therefore phototherapy may represent a new therapeutic approach in NPs.

Methods: A feasibility study was performed to assess the clinical efficacy and tolerability of phototherapy and to identify the clinical effective UV dose range in NPs.

A dose-titration study was conducted in 13 subjects with bilateral grade 1–3 NPs. Patients were exposed to gradually increasing doses of UV light over a 12 week period (3 exposures).Subjects rated their nasal obstruction symptom scores weekly on a visual analogue scale from 0 to 6. The NOSE quality of life questionnaire was used at baseline and end of treatment period. Adverse events were monitored by endoscopy. Ten subjects completed the study.

Results: Nasal obstruction symptom scores improved at end of treatment compared to baseline. Improvement of quality of life (NOSE) at end of treatment compared to baseline was also noted. Treatments were well tolerated and no device related adverse events were reported. In most subjects, symptom improvement was observed after a certain threshold UV dose was reached. Therefore the study was also informative about the clinically effective doses which will be tested in future studies of much shorter duration.

Conclusion: The results suggest that phototherapy may represent a potential new treatment option in NPs.