Adenoids in the nose and throat in adults: are there, how to identify and how to treat?

Adenoids - a disease characterized by the appearance in the nasopharynx of formations consisting of lymphoid tissue. It is believed that this pathology is found only in pediatrics. Indeed, according to statistics, the appearance of adenoids affects patients aged 3-7 years. In most cases, adenoids decrease as they grow, and by the age of 25, lymphoid tissue is almost completely replaced by a connective tissue. Adenoids in adults are diagnosed in the case when the palatine tonsil does not become smaller with age.

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Epidemiology

Statistics on whether adenoids occur in adults and how often this pathology occurs in adulthood indicate that the patient's age does not matter. Lymphoid tissue in the nasopharynx can become inflamed both in infancy and in old age.

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Risk factors

Risk factors include adenoids in childhood, even in cases when the patient's anamnesis indicates an operation to remove them. Lymphoid tissue can later expand. As a rule, this happens when some parts of it were not removed during surgery.

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Pathogenesis

The pathogenesis of the disease can also be covered in diseases of the nasopharynx. So, with a prolonged runny nose, sinusitis, sinusitis or rhinitis from the nasal cavity in a large amount of secret. The immune system during this period actively functions and for the termination of the given symptom the sizes of a lymphoid tissue gradually increase.

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Symptoms of the adenoids in adults

Symptoms of adenoids in adults have little difference from the symptomatology of this pathology in patients of childhood. The first signs of the disease:

• the patient begins to snore in sleep (snoring and adenoids in adults are one of the most common combinations);
• headache;
• the patient feels stuffy ears;
• transformation of the head;
• hearing deteriorates;
• It is difficult to breathe through the nose (in this connection, the patient has a cough, because the pharynx dries up with oral breath).

With all of the above symptoms, adenoids can be associated with frequent colds.

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Stages

Adenoids in adults are divided into certain species, which are more correctly called stages.

There are three stages of adenoids in adults:

• Adenoides of the 1st degree in adults are characterized by difficulties associated with breathing in a dream, most often mouthpuff at night. At this stage, it is important to prevent tonsillitis, because with the combination of these pathologies, pathologies of the upper respiratory tract of a chronic type can develop.
• adenoides of the 2nd degree in adults are characterized by the presence of snoring in the dream, difficulty breathing with the nose, mouth breathing, a problem with access to oxygen (sometimes there is a small cessation of breathing apnea). There is a violation of sleep. These symptoms are observed both in the normal state and in inflammation of adenoids in adults. In most cases, it is advised to resort to surgery to prevent the pathology from passing to stage 3.
• Adenoids of the 3rd degree in adults are characterized by proliferation of lymphoid tissue. In this case, adenoids in the nasopharynx in an adult cover some areas of the ear (middle) and the airway. Breathing with the nose is impossible at any time of the day, hearing is reduced, frequent illnesses associated with inflammation of the respiratory and hearing organs appear.

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Complications and consequences

In the absence of timely treatment, the transition to the last stage is inevitable. Adenoids in the nose in adults without treatment lead to deterioration of hearing, persistent infections of an infectious nature, inflammation. Breathing becomes as difficult as possible, at night the patient snores and experiences apnea short-term breathing stops. Also, the consequence of difficulty breathing is the lack of oxygen in the brain, which can lead to a decrease in mental activity. In connection with such risks, diagnostics should be carried out in time and the development of pathology should not be allowed.

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Diagnostics of the adenoids in adults

Diagnosis of adenoids in children is a primary examination. This type of diagnosis does not allow to determine the presence of adenoids in adults due to the different structure of the nasopharynx. For this reason, specialists resort to other types of diagnosis.

Instrumental diagnostics includes such procedures:

• anterior rhinoscopy (to assess the nasal cavity and degree of edema);
• posterior rhinoscopy;
• pharyngoscopy (to assess the condition of the palatine tonsil);
• lateral roentgenography of the nasopharynx (for an accurate diagnosis);
• endoscopic examination of the nasopharynx / computed tomography (for final diagnosis).

The patient is given the following tests:

• general blood analysis;
• general urine analysis;
• bakosev detachable in the nasopharynx;
• cytological analysis.

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Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis is the differentiation of adenoids from tumors in the nasopharynx, diseases that lead to difficulty breathing, congenital pathologies of the nasopharynx and nasal cavity. It should be borne in mind that with a repeated proliferation of adenoids, a biopsy is performed to exclude such types of tumors as sarcoma, papilloma, epithelioma.

Treatment of the adenoids in adults

There are two ways of treating adenoids in adults: without surgery (the so-called conservative) and surgical. The first stages are usually treated conservatively, while in 2-3 stages it is impossible to do without surgical intervention.

With conservative treatment, a specialist prescribes medicines. Droplets in the nose in adenoids in adults are prescribed for washing and drying the mucosa.

First, the patient should be washed with a physiological saline solution or other solutions. Dolphin is often used for this. However, rinse the nose with saline solutions with caution in case of concomitant diseases. So, with sinusitis or rhinitis with improper washing, there is a possibility of infection in the Eustachian tube and, consequently, in the ear canal.

After washing with the solution, drying medicines such as Protargol and Collargol are used. These drugs should not be taken during pregnancy and lactation. One of the above drugs is buried in the nose after washing in an amount of 1-2 drops.

It is advisable not to wash your nose before going out, as there is a possibility of hypothermia of the sinuses of the nose.

It is recommended to use methods of physiotherapeutic treatment: laser therapy, inhalation, climatotherapy, UHF.

Vitamins in adenoids can be obtained from food. In this disease, it is also advised to use multivitamin complexes (A, B, C, D, B6) or separately vitamins B, E, C, PP, phytoncides.

Alternative treatment is used as an auxiliary therapy. There are many recipes for the treatment of adenoids.

1. Salt, preheated on the surface for frying, poured into a bag of cloth. This pouch should be applied to the feet of the patient and put on warm socks.
2. Two parts of the beet juice are added to one part of the honey. This mixture is instilled in 5 drops in the nose every day up to 5 times.
3. In salt, heated on the frying surface in an amount of 1 kg, add a few drops of essential oil of lime or sage. From the salt do inhalations for 10 minutes every day, pour 2 tablespoons of salt with a liter of boiling water.
4. 15 grams of crushed anise is insisted 10 days in 100 milliliters of alcohol. After filtering the tincture is diluted with water at the rate of one part tincture into three parts water. The resulting solution should be dripped 3 times a day for 10 drops daily.

Herbal treatment is used not only with the manufacture of decoctions, but also as medicinal herbal preparations. An example is Sinupret, which contains the root of yellow gentian, primrose, common sorrel, elder, verbena.

In the treatment of adenoids also resort to homeopathy. Use drugs such as Agrafis nutans, Barite Carbonate, Calcium Fluoricum. Also, use the drug Tsinabsin 1 tablet three times a day. Contraindication to Cinabsin is pregnancy and lactation, as well as hypersensitivity to the components. Possible side effects in the form of increased salivation, gastrointestinal disorders, while taking medications with Echinacea in the form of an allergic reaction.

Surgical treatment of adenoids is called adenotomy. The operation to remove adenoids in adults occurs under anesthesia (local or general). When removing, the use of an endoscope is possible.

Adenoids are removed in adults with a laser, a knife, a tool with very small blades (shaver), cryodestructor, cobblancer.

Prevention

In order to prevent the proliferation of lymphoid tissue, it is necessary to strengthen the immune system and maintain a healthy general condition of the body with proper nutrition, no bad habits, playing sports.

Also, timely treatment of nasopharyngeal diseases should be carried out so that pathology does not change from acute to chronic and does not lead to complications in the form of adenoids.

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Forecast

With adequate conservative treatment in the first stages, it is possible to get rid of adenoids. In the second and third stages, one should resort to surgery. When performing surgery by a qualified specialist, complications and repeated sprouting can be ruled out, however, when relieving not all of the lymphoid tissue, relapses may occur. When relapses, additional tests should be performed to exclude tumors.

In untimely treatment or its ignoring, there may be consequences in the form of hearing loss, abnormal respiratory function disorders, impaired mental activity and other complications.

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