Abstract

Adela-Ioana Mocanu, Horia Mocanu*, Mihai Lupașcu*, Alexandra-Cristina Neagu, Mihaela Andreescu8 and Roxana Maria Nemeș

ABSTRACT

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is an affliction of significant prevalence, closely connected to allergic disorders and acute rhinosinusitis, which mainly benefits from classical treatment (CT) including corticosteroids, antibiotics and surgery. However, a large number of patients reports poor or disappoining results of classical wester medicine and therefore seek for complementary and alterna-tive medicine (CAM). The most common type of CAM used for sinus inflammation are herbal treatments (HM), known in Chinese traditional medicine for millennia for their resistance to foreign pathogens, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and immunomodulatory effects and increasingly popular with European and North American patients and physicians. Apparently, one-third of U.S. population uses some form of CAM for treating CRS with estimated expenses of $23 billion is spent annually on these therapies. Most patients do not inform their physician on the use of herbal or alternative treatments. Most studies regarding plant extracts or mixtures come from China and South-East Asia and are usually scientifically performed, as the use of HM is done on a large scale within this geographical area. Western Europe has oriented the knowledge towards scientific research and rationally proven effects which automatically led to developing industrial products (extracts and mixtures of extract) that are safe to use and currently present in CRS management protocols. Eastern Europe remains the unknown quantity of the equation, as the herbal use, although ancient, hasn‘t been properly documented and organized. The plants are not widely spread and their use remains somewhat traditional, even mystical and confided to regions. Although certain plant families seem to be common in use for all continents and regions, the actual common plants are few. This is explainable by geographical and biological differences. The influence of folklore and spirituality in this regard remains to be studied further. We performed a literature survey between July 2021 and July 2023, using a variety of Romanian and East-European ethnobotanical books as well as well-established databases, to find the most relevant articles. Articles were not limited to those published in the English and Romanian languages, as the purpose of our work was to present exhaustive data related to an array of cultural inheritance. We attempted a narrative presentation of the material instead of a systematic re-view in order to make it easier and more pleasant to read and also to bring a sense of folklore and tradition to this topic, as these two parameters play an important role in the use of herbal therapies.