ABSTRACT
One hundred eighty cases of Meniere's disease were identified in the Rochester, MN population during the 30-year period, 1951 through 1980. The annual age-adjusted incidence rate per 100,000 population was 15.3; the preponderance for females (16.3) over males (13.3) was not statistically significant. There was no change in annual incidence rate from 1951 through 1970, and a slight decrease in the period, 1971 through 1980. The prevalence rate on January 1, 1980, was 218.2 per 100,000 population. Clinical aspects of Meniere's disease noted during the course of this study are reported.
Subject(s)
Meniere Disease/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Meniere Disease/diagnosis , Middle Aged , Minnesota , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
Bronchial epithelial damage occurs regularly in bronchial asthma, but it is not known whether such damage occurs in the mucosa of nasal polyps. We obtained nasal polyp tissues from thirty patients and we examined these tissues for evidence of epithelial damage. Immediately after resection, polyp tissue was fixed in Karnovsky's fixative, embedded in methacrylate and stained with Giemsa pH 6 X 5. Normal nasal tissue from eight patients undergoing nasal septal reconstruction was similarly processed. As a disease control, we examined tissue from eight patients with nasal polyps associated with cystic fibrosis. Tissues were viewed by microscopy and epithelial damage was expressed as the percent of surface involved. Twenty-eight of the thirty patients with idiopathic nasal polyps (93%) showed complete loss of nasal mucosa in varying degrees (range 3-81% of surface; mean, 29%). All patients showed evidence of some epithelial damage, either complete loss or marked desquamation (range 9-99% of surface; mean 54%). In contrast, six of eight biopsies from patients undergoing septal reconstruction and five of eight nasal polyps from patients with cystic fibrosis showed little or no evidence of epithelial damage. The results indicate that nasal polyps regularly show evidence of epithelial damage similar to that seen in bronchial asthma, and this abnormality may partly explain the rhinorrhea which is prominently associated with nasal polyps.
