PHILADELPHIA-It is generally accepted that foreign microbial antigens drive the inflammation in chronic rhinosinusitis. Which antigens are responsible, though, is not certain. But researchers are trying to find out.
Explore this issue:
June 2009At Rhinology World 2009, two experts in the field debated the causes of the disease and discussed the prospect of homing on better treatments. But even as they did so, they acknowledged that the way the patient reacts to the antigens ultimately causes the problem.
Jens Ponikau, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at the State University of New York-Buffalo, pointed to eosinophils in making his case that fungi are at the heart of chronic rhinosinusitis, a group of disorders involving inflammation of the mucus of the nose and paranasal sinuses, lasting at least 12 weeks.