Chronic rhinosinusitis: assessment of changes in nociceptive neurons

Abstract

Background: Pain is a major symptom of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). It is mainly associated with CRS without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) and has a major impact in the decision to move on to surgery. Patients with CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) are characterized by trigeminal hypoesthesia and suffer from less pain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether CRS induces alterations in the peripheral nociceptive neurons, mainly focusing on quantitative changes. Methods: Sinus mucosa and inferior turbinate (IT) samples were obtained from patients with CRS, and IT tissue of healthy patients served as controls. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed for neuronal markers including CNTNAP2,