Aspirin-sensitive rhinosinusitis/asthma: spectrum of adverse reactions to aspirin.

In order to determine the types of respiratory responses observed during aspirin-induced reactions, 50 consecutive asthmatic patients with a history of aspirin sensitivity underwent prospective oral aspirin challenges between 1979 and 1981. Oral aspirin challenges produced 36 asthmatic responses (33 combined with rhinitis and three purely asthmatic) and six acute rhinoconjunctivitis responses (three combined with mild asthma and three purely rhinoconjunctivitis) but failed to stimulate any reaction in eight patients. The results produced by these challenges were then compared with results recorded during additional aspirin challenges in 28 of these patients, performed after the index challenge in 1979-1981 in 26 patients and in the case of two patients before 1979. The type of respiratory response to aspirin varied significantly in 11 (39%) of the 28 patients and included disappearance of aspirin reactivity in four patients.