How to treat persistent allergic rhinitis medically

  Allergic rhinitis, also known as allergic rhinitis, is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa caused by IgE-mediated release of mediators after exposure to allergens in atopic individuals, with the involvement of a variety of immunoreactive cells and cytokines, etc. AR is a common and highly prevalent disease in otorhinolaryngology that is difficult to cure, mainly manifesting as nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing and nasal itching. In 2001, the WHO guidelines “Allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma” were published, pointing out that AR is a global health problem, often coexisting with asthma, and emphasizing that AR is one of the risk factors for the development of asthma. It is also emphasized that AR is a risk factor for the development of asthma. The search for efficient and non-adverse treatments is still an important issue.  The pathogenesis of PAR: PAR is an IgE-mediated type I allergic reaction. When the atopic antigen enters the atopic individual, the body produces the corresponding IgE antibody, which puts the body in a sensitized state. When the organism is exposed to similar antigen again, the antigen binds to IgE and, with the participation of complement, binds to IgE receptors on the mast cell membrane, which stimulates a series of biochemical changes in the cell membrane, and the mast cells degranulate, releasing a series of inflammatory mediators such as histamine, slow-reacting substances, bradykinin, etc. These mediators, through their receptors in target tissues such as nasal mucosal vessels, glands, and nerve endings, cause a marked tissue response in the nasal mucosa, manifested as resistance vasoconstriction, etc. Further studies have shown that the process of metabolic reaction consists of two phases: the rapid-onset phase reaction phase and the late-onset phase. The main difference between the two is that the former relies on the action of IgE, while the latter is mainly mediated by histocompatibility complexes.  Pharmacological treatment of PAR: The pharmacological treatment of PAR includes first-line agents, including glucocorticoids and antihistamines, and second-line agents, including anti-leukotrienes, chromones, decongestants and anticholinergics. Only the first-line drugs used in this clinical observation are discussed here.  1. Glucocorticoids: They produce strong anti-inflammatory effects by reducing the release of cytokines and chemokines, and can inhibit multiple stages of the inflammatory process, and are considered to be the most effective drugs for the treatment of allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis. The safety of nasal glucocorticoid therapy has been widely recognized, but the possible local and systemic side effects should not be ignored. Local side effects include nasal dryness, rhinorrhea and nasal septal perforation; systemic side effects include suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, growth inhibition in children and ocular complications. The concern that nasal hormones may lead to systemic side effects is still the main problem that hinders their wider application in clinical practice, and is also a hot issue in current research.  2. Antihistamines: Histamine is the main mediator in the development of AR, so antihistamines play an important role in AR treatment. Their pharmacological mechanism of action is to block the biological effect pathway of histamine by competitively binding to H1 receptors, which can eliminate many kinds of symptoms caused by mast cell granules, and also become the first-line drugs for the treatment of AR. The biggest drawback of antihistamines is their central sedative and anticholinergic effects, which to some extent limit the wide clinical application of this drug. Although second-generation antihistamines rarely have drowsy side effects, it has been reported in the literature that some of the second-generation antihistamines can cause prolongation of the cardiac QT interval, resulting in serious cardiac toxicities such as arrhythmias. These fatal cardiac adverse reactions, although uncommon, should be taken seriously by our clinicians, especially in patients with organic heart disease, arrhythmias, electrolyte imbalance, and other underlying diseases combined with AR.  The principle and advantages of HIFU treatment for PAR: Focused ultrasound technology is to focus the ultrasound emitted outside the body to the diseased tissue in vivo, and irradiate the target tissue for a short time through the mechanical, thermal and cavitation effects of ultrasound to reach 70-100℃ locally, causing local protein punctate coagulation necrosis. The sea pole wing ultrasonic rhinitis treatment instrument can focus high-energy ultrasonic waves to the subnasal mucosa containing a large number of immune cells, plasma cellular and plasma mucous glands, nerves and rich vascular network, forming scattered punctate coagulative necrosis in the layer.  From this clinical observation, it is clear that HIFU treatment of PAR is a treatment method that can obtain comparable or even higher efficacy than first-line drug treatment, reproducible, high safety, low complications, economic and simple operation, and worthy of clinical promotion.