2.2 Postoperative treatments
The postoperative treatments are shown in Table 2. All participants were
treated with low-dose and long-term clarithromycin (200 mg/day,
macrolide therapy), muco-active drug (S-carboxymethylcysteine, 1500
mg/day), and nasal saline irrigation for at least 3 months after ESS.
All patients with eCRS used INCS, and 81% (9/11) of them used INCS for
more than 12 months after ESS. Two patients with non-eCRS used INCS, but
they stopped by 6 months after ESS. In addition, 54.5% (6/11) of eCRS
patients used SCS; three patients used betamethasone starting at 0.5 mg
with tapering from 2 to 12 months after ESS, and three patients used
prednisolone starting at 15 mg with tapering from 7 days to 2 months
after ESS. Only one patient with eCRS was taking low-dose SCS
(betamethasone, 0.25 mg/day) at the time of postoperative blood
collection. None of the patients received biologic therapies, such as
dupilumab, omalizumab, mepolizumab, or benralizumab.