It is a disease that dramatically affects the quality of life of those who suffer from it and affects about 8% of the European population. Nasal polyposis is the presence of an out-of-control inflammation at the nasal level, often related to asthma and allergic rhinitis, which in many cases affects people already frail at the level of the respiratory tract. We talked about it with Dr. Luca Malvezzi, specialist in Otolaryngology and Cervical Facial Surgery in Humanitas, during a radio interview.

Symptoms of nasal polyposis

Among the main symptoms are difficulty and obstruction of the respiratory tract, mucus, loss of sense of smell and headaches. These symptoms initially tend not to worry patients, but the risk is to be underestimated: “If you have, for example, a cold that lasts longer than ten days you need to turn to an ear. We must not underestimate this type of symptom,” explained Dr. Malvezzi again. “And my advice is to go to large clinical centers, because clinical and multi-disciplinary vision is essential today. Being visited by several specialists, who complete the clinical picture and then diagnose the therapy is very important and above all you have to avoid do-it-yourself treatment with cortisone or vaso constrictor drugs: “These are drugs dramatically used in Italy, which are sold without a prescription, but which have major side effects and but can be harmful in the long run,” said the specialist.

What therapies?

Surgery is sometimes necessary. For a long time we have preferred to intervene in this way to solve the problem. Today, however, the approach favors the evaluation of the patient’s immunological picture, which must be studied at the nasal and pulmonary levels and, if necessary, the allergies it manifests. “We are talking about precision medicine, in order to guarantee the patient a personalized intervention and therapy”, concluded Malvezzi.