Cryotherapy Found Efficacious for Chronic Rhinitis
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Freezing the posterior nasal nerve can reduce the symptoms of chronic rhinitis, researchers say. In what they believe to be the most rigorous study yet of cryotherapy for chronic rhinitis, the researchers showed that the ClariFix cryotherapy device (Stryker) was more efficacious than a sham procedure in improving the symptoms patients reported on questionnaires.
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@lagnajita A surgical procedure called vidian neurectomy is designed to disrupt parasympathetic innervation of the nasal mucosa and can help these patients. But this must be done under general anesthesia and frequently causes dry eye because it also disrupts parasympathetic innervation to the lacrimal gland. More recently, device manufacturers have focused on ablating the posterior nasal nerve because it is distal to the parasympathetic fibers for lacrimal innervation, making dry eye an unlikely side effect. The ClariFix impairs this nerve by freezing it. A rival product, the RhinAer Stylus (Aerin Medical) impairs the nerve through radiofrequency ablation.