Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), extraesophageal reflux (EER) and recurrent chronic rhinosinusitis

Chronic polypoid rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common disease, affecting approximately 16% of the adult population in the US every year. In addition to many well known predisposing factors, an association with reflux disease is hypothesized. Such an association might explain the recurrence of polyposis in the face of improved surgical techniques and postsurgical treatment of CRS. At present it is unclear whether extraesophageal reflux directly injures the sinus mucosa, whether gastroesophageal reflux leads to vagus-mediated neuroinflammatory changes, or whether both mechanisms occur separately or simultaneously. In patients suffering from recurrent CRS (n=20) and healthy volunteers (n=20), ambulatory 24 h two channel pH testing was performed. The number of reflux events, the fraction of the total time during which pH was below 4, and the reflux area index (RAI) were determined in the esophagus as well as in the hypopharynx. Patients with recurrent CRS had significantly more reflux events in the esophagus and the fraction of pH<4 and the RAI were increased up to 10-fold compared to healthy volunteers. In contrast to the esophagus, these differences were not observed in the hypopharynx. Recurrent CRS is often associated with GERD but not with EER. Recurrent disease or prolonged recovery after surgery should raise the suspicion of reflux disease as a possible triggering factor. Because GERD itself cannot be diagnosed by laryngoscopy, and because of the subjectivity of symptoms such as heartburn, the otolaryngologist should consider double-probe pH testing as the diagnostic procedure of choice.     

慢性咽炎患者喉咽反流分析

目的 探讨慢性咽炎与喉咽反流(laryngopharyngeal reflux,LPR)发生的关系.方法 对112例慢性咽炎患者行24小时双探头(食管和咽部)pH值监测,将检查出的62例LPR患者随机分为两组,实验组:应用抑制胃酸药和清热解毒的咽炎药治疗;对照组:单用清热解毒的咽炎药,对两组咽部症状缓解及病变改善情况进行统计学比较.结果 慢性咽炎的体征多样化,实验组35例,有效率94.29%(33例),对照组27例,有效率77.78%(21例),P＜0.05.结论 LPR是导致慢性咽炎的重要病因,使用抑酸剂可明显改善喉咽反流,从而达到治疗慢性咽炎的目的.     

Prevalence of laryngopharyngeal reflux in a population with gastroesophageal reflux

OBJECTIVE: Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a syndrome associated with a constellation of symptoms usually treated by ENT surgeons. It is believed to be caused by the retrograde flow of stomach contents into the laryngopharynx, this being a supra-esophageal manifestation of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It has been cited that LPR and GERD can be considered separate entities. Our hypothesis was that LPR is a supra-esophageal manifestation of GERD and therefore that patients with GERD should have a degree of symptoms suggestive of LPR because of the reflux of the gastric contents. We examined a population of patients with both upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and symptom-proven GERD and, using a questionnaire, looked at their existing symptoms to help assess the prevalence of LPR. We also looked at whether, with more severe GERD (suggestive of increased gastric content reflux), the degree of symptoms suggestive of LPR would be increased, as would be expected. METHODS: A population of patients with endoscopically proven GERD were recruited and divided into groups depending on the severity of their reflux disease. A questionnaire was then administered that examined both LPR and GERD scoring criteria. The relationship between GERD and LPR was then analyzed. RESULTS: We recruited 1,383 subjects with GERD; those with severe GERD had significantly higher LPR scores compared with those with mild (P < .01), moderate (P < .05), or inactive disease (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The condition of LPR is likely to represent a supra-esophageal manifestation of GERD. This study examined a large number of patients with endoscopically proven GERD and has demonstrated a correlation between the severity of GERD and the prevalence of LPR. LPR and GERD are common and interlinked conditions. The subsequent prevalence of LPR in the population with GERD is therefore likely to be dramatically underestimated.     

Pachydermia is not diagnostic of active laryngopharyngeal reflux disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine the change in pachydermia/posterior commissure hypertrophy in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPR) on long-term acid-suppressive therapy. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. METHODS: Seventeen patients with LPR who were compliant with long-term acid-suppressive treatment and had good control of their symptoms for at least 20 months were examined. Pre- and posttreatment still laryngeal images from these patients were analyzed by five otolaryngologists blinded to patient information and were scored for pachydermia/posterior commissure hypertrophy according to the Reflux Finding Score (RFS) subset. Test-retest intraobserver reliability, intergrader correlations, as well as a paired t test for means of the data sets were then calculated. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the grading scores between the pre- and posttreatment group for degree of pachydermia/posterior commissure hypertrophy despite a prolonged treatment interval (mean = 32 months) (P = .25). CONCLUSIONS: There is no statistically significant difference in the degree of pachydermia/posterior commissure hypertrophy found at diagnosis and after long-term acid suppressive therapy in patients with LPR. Therefore, it appears that pachydermia, as an isolated finding, is unreliable in determining the presence of active LPR.     

Bacteriology of postradiotherapy chronic rhinosinusitis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and chronic rhinosinusitis

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the bacteriology of postradiotherapy chronic rhinosinusitis (postRT-CRS) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) by evaluating the aspiration materials of the maxillary sinus of patients with postRT-CRS and patients with CRS. We collected the secretions of the maxillary sinus from 30 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with postRT-CRS and 30 patients with CRS for aerobe/facultative anaerobe bacteria culture. The most common isolates in the postRT-CRS group were Streptocuccus viridans, Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae, while those in the CRS group were Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Isolated Gram-positive coccus rate in postRT-CRS patients was significantly higher than in CRS patients (62.50% compared with 30.00%, respectively; P < 0.05), and isolated Gram-negative bacilli rate in postRT-CRS patients was significantly lower than in CRS patients (31.25% compared with 70.00%, respectively; P < 0.05). However, the incidence of positive cultures was not significantly different between the postRT-CRS group and the CRS group (P > 0.05). This study found that there were some differences in bacteriology between postRT-CRS and CRS. Gram-positive coccus was the predominant aerobic/facultative anaerobe pathogenic bacterium in patients with postRT-CRS, and Gram-negative bacilli was predominant in CRS patients.     

儿童咽喉反流性疾病研究进展

咽喉反流性疾病（1aryngopharyngeal reflux disease,LPRD）是指胃内容物反流至食管上括约肌以上部位,流至咽喉部,与呼吸道和消化道上部组织接触,引起一系列症状和体征的总称。据国外研究表明到耳鼻咽喉科就诊的门诊患者约10%患有LPRD。虽然最近几年,耳鼻咽喉科医师逐渐在重视LPRD的诊疗,但LPRD目前仍是一个不明确的疾病,我们对其真实的发病率及重要性知之甚少,尤其在儿童中LPRD的评估仍存在争议。目前仍有许多工作亟待开展。     

胃蛋白酶在咽喉反流疾病诊断中的应用

咽喉反流性疾病是近年来被临床医师逐渐认识并引起重视的一种疾病。美国耳鼻咽喉头颈外科学会将其定义为胃内H+和胃蛋白酶原经食管到达咽、喉、鼻、中耳、气管和支气管等部位所引起的临床症候群。随着逐渐深入的研究,学者对胃蛋白酶在咽喉反流病中的作用的认识逐渐提高,认为胃蛋白酶可以作为一种检测方法诊断咽喉反流病。     

Management of refractory chronic rhinosinusitis in children

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) continues to be a difficult problem for the medical community. Traditionally, oral antibiotic therapy has been the cornerstone of treatment, but some patients, who are resistant to multiple trials of oral antibiotics, require alternative therapeutic modalities. One such option, the use of intravenous (IV) antibiotics, has shown a high success rate in a limited study. Our goal is to estimate the success of a therapy consisting of culture directed IV antibiotics, adenoidectomy, and sinus aspiration in ameliorating long-term (>12 months) clinical symptoms of CRS in pediatric patients who are resistant to oral antibiotic therapy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 22 patients who received treatment, focusing on patient age, initial CRS presenting symptoms, computed tomography scan finding, length, duration, and type of prior oral antibiotic treatment, length and type of IV antibiotic treatment, and long-term follow-up of clinical symptom resolution. RESULTS: Initial clinical improvement after cessation of IV therapy was achieved in all 22 (100%) patients. Seventeen (77%) of the patients demonstrated long-term resolution of clinical symptoms of CRS. Excluding 4 immunocompromised patients, 16 of 18 (89%) of patients demonstrated long-term amelioration of CRS symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that IV antibiotics may prove beneficial for pediatric patients who demonstrate CRS not responsive to traditional oral therapy. Although other treatment options are currently available for this subpopulation of patients, this IV antibiotic therapy provides both a maximally effective outcome while using a relatively minimally invasive intervention.     

Surgical treatment of chronic recurrent rhinosinusitis: a preliminary report

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine if endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is effective in the management of chronic recurrent rhinosinusitis (CRRS). METHODS: A consecutive series of patients with CRRS diagnosed according to stringent criteria was prospectively examined before and at least 1 year after ESS. Paranasal sinus computed tomography scans were staged and ESS was performed targeting radiographic disease and the ostiomeatal complex. Preoperative and postoperative disease severities in terms of symptom scores, medicine utilization, and resource factors were assessed using the rhinosinusitis symptom inventory (RSI). Improvements in RSI symptom domains, medical and economic resource factors were determined using effect sizes and statistical comparison before and after ESS. RESULTS: Nineteen patients (mean age, 42.3 years) completed the study with a mean follow up of 19.1 months. The mean Lund score was 3.42 (standard deviation, 4.09). Statistically significant decreases in nasal (-36.1), facial (-28.4), oropharyngeal (-34.6), systemic (-24.7), and total (-31.9) RSI symptom domain scores were observed (all P < .003) with effect sizes ranging from 0.87 to 1.63 (strong surgical effect). Statistically significant decreases in antihistamine use (-30%, P = .031), number of workdays missed as a result of CRRS (-1.9, P = .035), and number of acute infectious episodes (-2.5, P = .006) were also observed. However, declines in weeks of antibiotic use (-2.8 weeks, P = .293) and number of antibiotic courses (-1.7, P = .118) were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with CRRS may substantially benefit both symptomatically and medically from ESS. Although surgery should be used cautiously in treating CRRS, further trials of ESS for CRRS are warranted.     

Quantitative analysis of fungal DNA in chronic rhinosinusitis

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Fungi have been recognized as important pathogens in sinusitis; however, they are equally present in patients with and without sinusitis. The authors postulated that the quantity of fungal DNA in the nose is determinant of disease, is greater in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, and is directly correlated to their quality of life. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective recruitment of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. METHODS: Objective quality of life data were collected using three validated questionnaires: the Sinonasal Outcomes Test (SNOT-20), Medical Outcomes Short-Form 36 Survey (SF-36), and Guy Marks Asthma Questionnaire (GMAQ). Endoscopically guided middle meatus mucosal samples were collected from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and normal control subjects. Fungal-specific polymerase chain reaction was performed on each sample. Every fungal-positive sample underwent fungal-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Statistical analysis was used to correlate fungal DNA quantities with outcomes indices between groups. RESULTS: Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis had a mean SNOT-20 index of 32.0 as compared with a SNOT-20 index of 17.3 (P <.01) in the normal control subjects. There were no statistical differences between the groups' indices for the SF-36 or GMAQ outcomes questionnaires. Four of 19 (21.1%) patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and 7 of 19 (36.8%) normal control subjects had positive findings for fungal DNA using polymerase chain reaction. The median relative quantity of fungal DNA to human DNA for chronic rhinosinusitis and control samples was identical (0.13) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. CONCLUSION: The quantity of fungal DNA in the middle meatus did not differ in patients with and without chronic rhinosinusitis and was not correlated with quality of life outcomes. Therefore, the quantity of fungi does not explain pathogenicity in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. However, because of small sample size, the study must be replicated in a larger patient population.     

口咽pH监测技术在咽喉反流性疾病诊断中的应用

咽喉反流性疾病越来越普遍和受到重视,但是咽喉反流的诊断和机制存在很多争议,目前即使作为诊断金标准的24小时多通道腔内阻抗联合pH监测也存在很多问题,本文就一种新型的口咽监测技术做一综述.     

咽喉反流性疾病在儿童的诊断与治疗

儿童咽喉反流性疾病(laryngopharyngeal reflux disease,LPRD)是儿科人群中一个复杂而又常见的问题,近些年来儿童LPRD与喂养困难、睡眠障碍、发声障碍、顽固性鼻炎鼻窦炎、中耳炎、慢性咳嗽等疾病的相关性已经引起多专业儿科医师的关注,但其诊断和临床表现仍存在争议.为提高对儿童LPRD的认识,...     

中国喉科医师应用反流体征评分量表的信度研究

目的评估中国喉科医师应用反流体征评分量表(reflux finding score,RFS)的信度。方法 2009-02-10～2009-04-30收集了在美国加州大学戴维斯分校医学中心耳鼻咽喉头颈外科嗓音和吞咽障碍诊疗中心就诊的喉疾病患者的喉镜图片50张。由中国医师李进让(作者本人)和RFS的设计者、美国喉科医师Peter C Belafsky分别分两次(间隔48h以上)对50张喉镜图片进行RFS双盲评分。之后应用统计学处理,进行组间和组内信度评估。结果中国喉科医师初次和第2次RFS评分的平均值分别为8.28±2.78和8.10±2.75,美国喉科医师的分别分8.20±2.77和7.84±3.13。中国喉科医师和美国喉科医师各次RFS评分的均值无统计学差异(P>0.05)。中国喉科医师和美国喉科医师2次RFS评分的相关系数分别为0.929和0.874。中国喉科医师和美国喉科医师第1次RFS评分的相关系数为0.703。我们把RFS≥7判定为异常,中国喉科医师和美国喉科医师的组内一致性分别为94%(κ=0.861,P<0.0001)和94%(κ=0.855,P<0.0001),组间一致性为88%(κ=0.663,P<0.0001)。结论中国喉科医师应用RFS对喉镜图片进行评分组内和组间有很好的一致性和重复性,说明中国喉科医师可以准确的应用RFS来进行咽喉反流性疾病患者的初筛。     

咽喉反流对声门型喉癌中COX-2mRNA表达的影响

目的：探讨咽喉反流对环加氧酶2（COX-2）mRNA在声门型喉癌病变黏膜中表达的影响。方法：对40例声门型喉癌患者行电子鼻咽喉镜检查、反流检查计分量表（RFS）和反流症状指数量表（RSI）评分,将其分为声门型喉癌反流阳性组（20例）和声门型喉癌反流阴性组（20例）,另取10例癌旁2cm以上黏膜组织作为对照组。采用Real—timePCR方法,测定各组黏膜中COX-2tuRNA的表达情况。结果：声门型喉癌组COX-2mRNA的表达明显高于对照组（P〈O．05）;声门型喉癌反流阳性组的表达高于声门型喉癌反流阴性组（P〈0．05）。结论：咽喉反流因素可能通过组织损伤、炎症及细胞恶性转化使声门型喉癌的COX-2mRNA的表达升高。