Fungi as Causative Agent of Nasal Polyps

Nasal polyposis is an inflammatory condition of unknown etiology that involves nasal and sinus mucous membrane. These polyps can impair a person’s quality of life by nasal obstruction, recurrent sinusitis, persistent postnasal drainage, hyposmia, anosmia, changes in sense of taste and even bony destruction. It has been shown that chronic inflammation causes a reactive hyperplasia of the intranasal mucosal membrane which results in the formation of polyps. Recently, fungal elements were suspected to be the causative agent of chronic rhinosinusitis and a fungal etiology has been proposed to underlie severe nasal polyposis. The present study was undertaken to determine the role of fungi in development of nasal polyps. In this study resected polyps from 100 patients were examined by mycological and pathological methods for the presence of fungi. Fungal elements were shown in 9 samples by mycological methods and isolated fungi were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Rhizopus sp. Tissue invasion by fungi also was seen by histopathological examination in 6 patients. Therefore, fungi could be considered as the causative factor in the development of nasal polyposis in those patients and since medical treatment of nasal polyps have become increasingly recognized in recent years, the present study also implying the benefits of topical antifungal therapy in such cases.