Nasal irrigation with lavonase as ancillary treatment of acute rhinosinusitis: a pilot study.

A wide variety of nasal irrigation systems are currently available for improving nasal symptoms, but few studies have compared their effectiveness with respect to patient age and type of nasal disease. This pilot study aims to compare the efficacy of two irrigation systems in 20 patients (12 males and 8 females; age range, 19-54 years; mean age, 36) with acute rhinosinusitis and treated only with antibiotic (levofloxacin 500 mg/day for 10 days) and topical nasal decongestant (naphazoline 2 puffs in each nostril twice daily for 7 days). Patients were randomly assigned to the treatments, using either a nasal syringe (10 mL saline solution, 3 times daily for 14 days) (Group 1) or the recently available Lavonase system (250 mL saline solution sac, twice daily for 14 days) (Group 2). Work-up included history, evaluation of signs and symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea), nasal endoscopy, and anterior rhinomanometry. Nasal irrigation with the Lavonase system was found to be more effective in reducing symptoms, as all significantly diminished (p<0.05). In addition, the Lavonase system significantly decreased nasal resistances (p<0.05). This preliminary study shows that the ancillary treatment of acute rhinosinusitis with Lavonase may be useful.