High Volume Sinonasal Budesonide Irrigations for Chronic Rhinosinusitis: An Update on the Safety and Effectiveness

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), otherwise known as chronic sinusitis, is a common inflammatory disease of the paranasal sinuses affecting approximately 7% to 14% of the North American population [1,2]. Patients with CRS suffer from several detrimental health effects including reduced quality of life (QoL) [3], impaired sleep [4], fatigue [5], acute infections [6], and increased bodily pain [7]. This produces a serious negative impact on society as patients with CRS have substantial productivity costs ($10,077 per patient with refractory CRS per year) [8] and large direct medical costs to the health care system. The estimated annual health care expenditure for CRS in the United States (US) is $8.6 billion with the majority of costs arising from physician office visits, emergency department encounters, and medication use [9].