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.