CASE REPORT We present the case of a 69-year-old woman with unilateral retinal vasculitis. Investigations showed asthma, rhinosinusitis, nasal polyposis, peripheral blood eosinophilia, increased sedimentation rate, proteinuria, and antiphospholipid antibodies. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) were negative. DISCUSSION Although her anti-neutrophil cytoplasmatic antibody (ANCA) sta...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the immunological pattern of nasal polyposis in patients with and without allergy, the percentages of CD4+ cells expressing intracellular interferon-gamma and interleukin-4 (T helper [T(H)] type 1 and 2 cells) were measured by flow cytometry in samples from patients with nasal polyps. METHODS Samples from 32 patients (16 atopic, 16 nonatopic) were studied. The fresh nasal...

Rhinitis and rhinosinusitis (with/without polyposis), either allergic or non-allergic, represent a major medical problem. Their associated comorbidities and relationship with family history have so far been poorly investigated. We assessed these aspects in a large population of patients suffering from rhinosinusal diseases. Clinical history, nasal cytology, allergy testing and direct nasal exam...

To the Editor: Nasal glucocorticosteroids (NGCS) are considered first-line therapy for allergic rhinitis and are effective therapy for nonallergic rhinitis, especially vasomotor rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis with eosinophilia syndrome.1–4 Nasal congestion can persist despite maximum treatment with NGCS. Although oral and topical antihistamines are effective in relieving this symptom,5,6 nei...

Background The Allergic Rhinitis Clinical Investigator Collaborative (AR-CIC) is a Canadian multi-center initiative with the primary goal of performing standardized nasal allergen challenge (NAC) to study the anti-allergic effects of novel therapeutic agents for allergic rhinitis (AR). The model further allows identification of potential mechanisms of allergic disease and biomarkers. In this st...

INTRODUCTION Eosinophilic and noneosinophilic Nasal polyps (NPs) are different subtypes of NPs and require different treatment methods. OBJECTIVE To compare the histologic characteristics, mRNA and protein expression between Nasal Polyps with and without eosinophilia. METHODS NPs tissues were obtained from eighty-six NPs patients during surgery. Eosinophilic and noneosinophilic NPs were dis...

Allergic asthma and rhinitis are inflammatory diseases of the airways. Allergic asthma is characterized by eosinophilic inflammation, reversible bronchoconstriction and airway hyperresponsiveness, whereas patients with rhinitis suffer from nasal inflammation, leading to rhinorrhea and nasal congestion. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are one of the major drugs for asthma and rhinitis treatment and can re...

Eosinophilic bronchitis is a common cause of chronic cough, characterized by sputum eosinophilia similar to that seen in asthma, but unlike asthma the patients have no objective evidence of variable airflow obstruction or airway hyperresponsiveness. The reason for the different functional associations is unclear. The authors have tested the hypothesis that in eosinophilic bronchitis the inflamm...