Efficacy of Viola odorata flower decoction in chronic rhinosinusitis

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is one of the most frequent otorhinolaryngologic diseases encountered in daily practice with an estimated prevalence of 14% of the global population. This study aimed to explore the efficacy of Viola odorata flower decoction against CRS. In this prospective randomized controlled trial, 30 patients with CRS were randomly assigned to receive either test drug (10 g of V. odorata flower in the form of decoction administered orally empty stomach in the morning daily) or active control drug (single nasal spray of fluticasone propionate 50 µg/spray in each nostril daily) for 30 days. The primary outcome measure was an improvement in sinonasal symptoms assessed using a 22-item sinonasal outcome questionnaire (SNOT-22). Reduction in absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and improvement in x-ray paranasal sinus were secondary outcome measures. The significance level was kept as 5%. After completing the therapy, the SNOT-22 score was significantly low in the test group compared with the control group and a significant difference was found in AEC between the groups. Also, the SNOT-22 score remained significantly low after completion of the treatment on the 45th and 60th days compared with the control drug. Changes in x-ray paranasal sinuses were not significant between the groups. These results suggested that V. odorata flower was effective in reducing the symptoms of CRS. Trial Registration No. Clinical Trial Registry of India CTRI/2017/09/009788 (01/09/2016)