The effect of nasally administered budesonide respules on adrenal cortex function in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Author(s): Sachanandani NS, Piccirillo JF, Kramper MA, Thawley SE, Vlahiotis A

Affiliation(s): Division of Clinical Outcomes Research, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Publication date & source: 2009-03, Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg., 135(3):303-7.

Publication type: Comparative Study; Multicenter Study; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether nasal administration of budesonide in adults with chronic rhinosinusitis for 30 days suppresses adrenal function and to assess its clinical efficacy. DESIGN: An open-label prospective study. SETTING: Academic medical center. PATIENTS: We assessed adrenal function in 9 patients using the cosyntropin test before and after budesonide therapy. INTERVENTION: Budesonide respule therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Scores from the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20), a tool for assessing rhinosinusitis health and quality of life, were used to assess efficacy of budesonide treatment. RESULTS: All of our patients showed adequate adrenal response to cosyntropin stimulation before and after the budesonide trial. The mean difference in SNOT-20 scores was -1 (95% confidence interval, -1.77 to -0.23; P = .02), indicating clinically significant improvement after therapy. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that using budesonide nasal wash may be clinically effective in decreasing the symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis and does so without suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.