[Comparative clinical, histomorphological and immunological investigations into etiological aspects of polyposis nasi et sinuum (author's transl)]

Abstract

43 patients with polyps affecting the nose and the sinuses were examined for immunological deficiencies on the basis of clinical, histomorphological and immunological findings. Constant histological findings were a chronic non-specific inflammation of varying intensity; immune-histologically a varyingly dense collection of Ig-producing cells with intracellular and extracellular immunoglobulins was observed. A determination of the immunoglobulins in the serum allowed no conclusion to be drawn as to the local condition of the mucosa. Hypertensitivity reactions played no role as a causal pathogenetic factor in the development of polyposis. In a third of the cases, however, polypi led to a secondary bronchial asthma. After the surgical removal of the polypi from the nose and paranasal sinuses, not only an improvement in nasal breathing and in the aeration of the sinuses was regularly achieved, but obstructive disorders of ventilation also disappeared.