Kampo Therapy to Treat Intractable Chronic Sinusitis Patients

Abstract

Low-dose administration of macrolide antibiotics has been reported to be effective in the treatment of chronic sinusitis. This paper reports the effects of Shin'i-seihai-to in patients whose symptoms did not improve despite extended administration of low doses of erythromycin. The subjects included four male and six female patients with chronic sinusitis whose symptoms did not improve after an average of 7.5 months of extended administration of low-doseerythromycin. The ir mean age was 7 y ears. Two weeks after the administration of Shin'i-seihai-to, a slight or better imp rovement in nasal discharge was reported in approximately 70% of the subjects. Approximately 70%reported improvement in nasal o bstruction, and 20% in the frequency of nose b lowing. Changes in asal secretion were seen within 7 days. One patient suffered a mild gastric disorder. Althoug hn Shin'i-seihai-to was administered without assessing objective signs of improvement, s ubjective symptoms improved and X-rays of the paranasal sinuses in a high percentage of subjects. Kampo medicine was determined to be both easy to administer and useful in the treatment of chronic sinusitis.