Journal of Clinical Medicine
Therapeutic Value of Budesonide Nasal Irrigation for Postoperative Maintenance of Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Real-World Study
By Soo Yeon Kim and Jin‐Young Min.
Abstract
Objectives
Budesonide irrigation (BI) has emerged as an effective postoperative topical therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), providing improved drug delivery compared with conventional intranasal corticosteroid sprays. However, evidence regarding its role as a maintenance strategy during the critical postoperative period remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of BI compared with saline irrigation (SI) in patients with persistent symptoms following functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and to determine whether treatment effects differed according to CRS inflammatory endotypes.
Methods
This retrospective cohort study included 121 patients with CRS who underwent FESS between 2021 and 2024. Patients with persistent symptoms 3 months post-operation were treated with either continued SI (n = 54) or BI (n = 67) for at least 6 months. Clinical outcomes included changes in SNOT-22 scores, modified Lund–Kennedy endoscopic scores (mLKS), olfactory function assessed by KVSS II, oral corticosteroid (CS) use, and disease control status. Subgroup analyses were conducted for eosinophilic CRS (ECRS) and non-eosinophilic CRS (NECRS).