Short-term Beneficial Effect of Aspirin in Patient with Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Tolerant to Acetylsalicylic Acid

Abstract

It is well known that desensitization treatment with aspirin can significantly improve symptoms and quality of life in patient with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. However, its mechanism has not been clearly understood yet. In this case report, 41-year-old male patient was referred to our allergy and immunology department with complaints of chronic rhinosinusitis including postnasal discharge, sneezing, facial pain/pressure, waking up tired, nasal obstruction, smell loss for a long time. According to the patient, the complaints were controlled partially with nasal steroid and antihistamines, and single dose parenteral depot steroids were highly effective in controlling the symptoms and each time this effect lasted at least three weeks. The patient was told to use aspirin when needed analgesic and he started to use aspirin 500 mg bid. po for 10 days for his pain in the joints. The patient stressed the superiority of aspirin over other drugs including oral antihistamine and LTA and its equality to systemic steroid drugs in suppressing symptoms. It seemed that aspirin had positive effects in allergic inflammation at least in some subset of aspirin tolerant patients with chronic sinusitis.

Keywords

• Acetylsalicylic acid
• Allergy
• Aspirin
• Chronic rhinosinusitis
• Corticosteroids
• Nasal polyps