NASAL polyps are comparatively common lesions, their exact nature and etiology under considerable dispute. Basically, it is generally conceded that the polyp is an inflammatory lesion, commonly resulting from an allergy of the nasal mucosa. The lesion is dependent on the local edema of the submucosa, with a chronic inflammatory cellular infiltration consisting chiefly of lymphocytes, large mononuclears, plasma cells, and, commonly, eosinophils in large numbers. The eosinophils are explained on the basis of allergy as one of the common cellular reactions seen in such allergic conditions as asthma, hay fever, and urticaria.
Accumulation of fluid acts mechanically to cause the mucosa to become dependent, and gradually there develops a pedunculated mass of loose, edematous, submucous connective tissue covered by a somewhat thickenned inflammatory mucosa. This, in turn, frequently undergoes ulceration with secondary infection and other evidence of inflammatory change, with leukocytic infiltration, and may arise in either the