Effect of long-term use of topical decongestants on mucociliary clearance

Background: The prevalence of drug-induced rhinitis in the population ranges from 1% to 7%. The result of long-term use of topical decongestants in rhinologic conditions suppresses mucociliary transport, making them unsafe.

Aim: To determine the effect of long-term use of topical decongestants on the mucociliary activity of the nasal mucosa.

Methods: The study involved 80 patients with drug-induced rhinitis aged 18–45 years. All patients were divided into 4 groups: group 1 (control group) included healthy participants; group 2 included patients who used topical decongestants for up to 1 year; group 3 included patients who use decongestants for 1–10 years, and group 4 included patients who used topical decongestants for more than 10 years. The ciliary beat frequency was examined using high-speed digital video microscopy. Video of 8–10 areas with intact ciliary beating was recorded using a high-speed video camera (Huateng Vision HT-SUA133GC-T) with the highest resolution (1,280 × 1,024 pixels) and frame rate (245 frames per second) installed to replace one microscope eyepiece. The average video frame rate was 132 ± 71.1 frames per second. The resulting videos were converted into a sequence of frames using the Free video to JPG converter software. Then, the sequence of frames was used in the CiliarMove app to calculate the ciliary beat frequency.

Results: The study did not show significant differences in the ciliary beat frequency of the inferior turbinate mucosa when using topical decongestants for 1 year and in healthy patients; whereas the ciliary beat frequency of the inferior turbinate mucosa in patients using topical decongestants for more than a year was significantly lower compared to healthy participants.

Conclusion: We revealed correlation between the duration of topical decongestant use and mucociliary activity.