Amanda Patterson

After three surgeries to remove nasal polyps, there were things Amanda Patterson had come to expect. She knew surgery would temporarily give back her sense of smell and clear up her congestion enough that people could understand her over the phone - but she understood, in her case, the relief would be short-lived, and she would likely end up back on steroids, and scheduled for yet another sinus surgery. The polyps would come back and so would the daily struggle to breathe and sleep.

The specialists at Rochester Regional Health's Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology practice weren't willing to settle for that for Amanda or others who experience aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. As part of their investigator-initiated clinical research study, Amanda and nine other participants received dupilumab for their sino-pulmonary disease, and it worked well for Amanda.

"It changed my life," she said. "I started having asthma and some of my other symptoms eight years ago before I had kids. Now, I know what my kids' shampoo smells like, and I can run around and play with them." Her day isn't dictated by the timing of her medications, and she doesn't have to explain, again, that she isn't sick or contagious. "I'm no longer going through two tissue boxes a day," she said, "and I can go six months without seeing my doctors. I have my life back."

And that makes the trial worth it for S. Shahzad Mustafa, MD, Lead Physician at the practice. "Our trial was small in size, but people around the world will benefit from what we've learned," he said. "These results should encourage other physicians to treat these patients with this new management strategy, improving the lives of many of these patients who previously had very few therapeutic options."