Almost 280,000 Spaniards suffer from chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis, a disease that causes respiratory difficulties, runny nose and anosmia, and which could be largely avoided if patients accessed the available treatments.
This is warned by a joint document from the Spanish Society of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, the Spanish Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology and the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) in which they demand more effective treatments for their patients and funding for biologic drugs.
On the occasion of National Nasal Polyposis Day, held last February, the biopharmaceutical company GSK wanted to show its commitment to nasal polyposis in a meeting between doctors and patients as part of its campaign ‘For a future of noses’ to raise awareness about this disease.
These patients, pointed out Iñaki Hernáez, medical director of the GSK Spain Specialties Unit, “live with constant nasal obstruction that negatively impacts different aspects of their daily life, such as, for example, the ability to concentrate, the ability to sleep or work performance.
This chronic pathology, which has a great impact on the patient’s quality of life and limits their work and academic productivity, increases with age, with an average onset of 42 years, and is suffered by more men than women. “Nasal polyposis causes nasal congestion/nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea (runny nose). Also, it can be accompanied by loss of the sense of smell (hyposmia/anosmia) and facial pressure or pain,” he says. Isam Alobidof the SEORL-CCC.
Quality of life
Polyposis also has a great impact on quality of life. This was recognized by Vanessa Limonge, president of the Spanish Association of patients with nasal polyposis (AEPONA), which groups patients with nasal polyposis.
Vanessa takes between ten and twelve rounds of corticosteroids a year because, as she explains, it generates very thick mucus that accumulates in her ears as if they were some kind of glue. “I’ve spent many years waking up five times a night because I couldn’t breathe.”
There are three phases in the treatment of nasal polyposis. First, the administration of pharmacological therapy. If the patient does not respond, surgery is used and finally biological drugs based on monoclonal antibodies.