Ling Jin,1,2,* Kai Fan,1,2,* Chunyan Yao,1,* Yongjun Chang,1 Yang Wang,1 Jiawei Lu,1 Shaoqing Yu1,2 

1Department of Otolaryngology, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200065, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Allergy,Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200065, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Shaoqing Yu, Department of Otolaryngology, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, 389 Xincun Road, Putuo District, Shanghai, 200065, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +8602166111042, Email yu_shaoqing@163.com

Purpose: The treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is often a difficult and long-term behavior, so it is necessary to seek a local treatment method that can be used for a long time, and is safe and effective. Nasal saline irrigation after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is currently recognized as a local treatment method, but it has no anti-inflammatory, anti-damage, and healing-promoting functions. To investigate the efficacy and safety of hydrogen-rich saline (HRS) for nasal irrigation after CRS surgery.
Patients and Methods: A total of 61 patients after CRS completed the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to rinse the nasal cavity with HRS or normal saline (NS) after CRS. Participants were followed up once a week for 12 times, and were evaluated with visual analogue score (VAS), 22-item Sinonasal Outcomes Test (SNOT-22), and Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores (LKES). The primary outcome was the VAS score of patients.
Results: After 12 weeks of follow-up, the VAS scores of both groups decreased, and the HRS group (0.52± 0.85) was lower than the NS group (1.47± 1.55), P=0.005. The total number of cases with complete control (clinical cure) in the short-term efficacy evaluation was more in the HRS group (20/31) than in the NS group (11/30), P=0.03< 0.05. No obvious adverse reactions occurred in the two groups during the follow-up.
Conclusion: This study found that HRS was more effective than NS alone in nasal irrigation after CRS surgery, and could shorten the time of nasal mucosal healing and epithelialization, with a higher rate of recent complete control.

Keywords: physiological saline, hydrogen -rich saline, nasal irrigation, chronic rhinosinusitis, endoscopic sinus surgery