Foreign-body Sensation in the Throat in Patients with Chronic Sinusitis.

In a series of 191 patients with chronic paranasal sinusitis 54.4% had foreign-body sensation in the throat (FBST). Roxithromycin (RXM) was administered for about 2 months. The post-arytenoid area was examined for pus and the patients were divided into the following three groups: 1) pus present but disappeared with treatment (35 patients); 2) pus present both before and after treatment (9 patients); 3) no pus either before or after treatment (60 patients). Group 1 had much higher rates of recovery from nasal symptoms and efficacy rates than did group 2. The FBST scores of group 1 patients improved with treatment (4.02→3.04), but there was virtually no change in group 2 (3.53→3.64).These results indicate that FBST can be induced by postnasal discharge in patients with chronic paranasal sinusitis and can usually be reduced by treatment with appropriate antibiotics.