Evaluation of Quality of Life and Pattern of Improvement of Bronchial Asthma in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Patients Treated by Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery.

Chronic inflammatory disorders of the upper airways are extremely prevalent and have a major impact on public health. Sinusitis and bronchial asthma are closely interrelated diseases and sinusitis is known to influence bronchial asthma in its severity and chronicity. Causal relationships have been proposed but not yet proved. The relationship between sinusitis and asthma is academically interesting and has important diagnostic and therapeutic implications. The present study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of functional endoscopic sinus surgery done as treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis on bronchial asthma patients, in terms of quality of life and pattern of improvement. Objectives of the study were to determine whether bronchial asthma and quality of life improved after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. This was an open labelled randomised control trial, done at ENT Department of Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. Those in Group A underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery and group B patients were given only medicines as per standard protocol. All of them received asthma treatment depending on asthma attacks and severity and followed up at specific intervals. Quality of life status and pattern of improvement of bronchial asthma among these patients were evaluated. Patients of chronic rhinosinusitis treated by functional endoscopic sinus surgery showed significant improvement in the mean asthma symptom score, asthma medication use score, pulmonary function test results, and quality of life assessment scores. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery could be considered early in the natural course of chronic rhinosinusitis with concomitant bronchial asthma.