Evaluation of The Improvement of Clinical and Radiological Scores with Doxycycline in the Treatment of Nasal Polyposis: A Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial

Abstract

Although several trials have been proposed for nasal polyposis (NP) treatment, but no standard guideline has been declared yet. We evaluated the effect of doxycycline on NP treatment. In a double- blind randomized clinical trial, 48 patients with bilateral nasal polyposis were assigned to receive doxycycline and placebo capsules for 8 weeks and were followed monthly for 4 months. Patients were assessed for polyp size, severity of symptoms and quality of life according to the endoscopic examination, VAS score, CT scanning and SNOT-22 respectively. polyp size reduced significantly after 8 weeks of treatment in the drug group. The quality of life score has raised significantly after 2 months of treatment with doxycycline. By giving –up the drug, severity of symptoms started to grow-up after 2 months. Although a course of doxycycline improved nasal symptoms, polyp size and CT findings, but further studies with more patients and longer follow-up course are required to establish the foundation to recommend this drug as an important treatment in NP.