2024 Volume 70 Issue 5 Pages 243-247
While chronic sinusitis is the most frequent cause of postnasal drip (PND), there are patients with clear PND who do not have sinusitis. Although several studies have reported the effectiveness of Shin'iseihaito for PND in patients with chronic sinusitis, no reports on clear PND have been published to date. This exploratory study investigated the effectiveness of Shin'iseihaito in the treatment of subjective symptoms in 63 patients with clear PND. Treatment resulted in marked improvement in 60% of patients, mild improvement in 13%, and no improvement in 27%. In comparisons between responders (patients with marked improvement) and non-responders (patients with mild or no improvement) revealed no significant differences in age, sex, or pre-treatment period of subjective symptoms. In contrast, a near-significant difference was observed in the oral medication period (7.2 versus 3.9 weeks, p=0.05). When scores of 2, 1, and 0 were given for marked improvement, mild improvement, and no improvement, respectively, patients who had been taking Shin'iseihaito for 6 weeks or longer showed better improvement of subjective symptoms than those who had been taking it for less than 6 weeks (p=0.03). Although this was an exploratory study, the results suggested the effectiveness of Shin'iseihaito in the treatment of clear PND in patients without sinusitis.
