Topical antifungal medications can be delivered to sinonasal cavities via a number of delivery systems including via spray bottle, atomizer, nebulizer, and bulb syringe. Most patients receiving treatment with topical antifungals for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) have used a bulb syringe and the clinical data supporting the efficacy and safety of this treatment utilized this delivery method.

For initial treatment of CRS, drug delivery via the syringe bulb is recommended. This recommendation is based on initial studies with the drug and is supported by the clinical research outlined below that demonstrated increased drug delivery via this method.

A patient education leaflet on drug administration, and other resources, can be found on the Patient Education Tools section of this web site (see Related Materials on the left).

Clinical Studies

• Comparison of Topical Medication Delivery Systems after Sinus Surgery.
  This article describes the results of a study comparing the distribution patterns of intranasal medication delivery systems including the spray bottle, atomizer, nebulizer, and bulb syringe. A dye solution was used to emulate the delivery of medication to the nasal cavities of patients with CRS who had undergone functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Distribution was found to vary between delivery systems with no statistical significance between the atomizer and spray bottle.
  
  The bulb syringe was found to be statistically superior to the nebulizer in sinonasal sites and statistically superior to the atomizer and spray bottle in the ethmoidal region.
  
  For more information, the complete citation for this study is: Miller TR, Muntz HR, Gilbert ME, et al. Comparison of topical medication delivery systems after sinus surgery. Laryngoscope. 2004;114(2):201-4.