Mucous glands in nasal polyps
M. Tos and C. Mogensen
A total of 102 nasal polyps from 52 patients were stained by the PAS-alcian
blue whole-mount method, and mucous glands were studied quantitatively.
Glands were found in all polyps but in many of them only a few. The density
is very low, considerably lower than in the nasal mucosa. The glands are
tubular, of different shape and size, but differ widely from those in the
nose and are formed from the surface epithelium after the polyp has
attained a certain size. They do not issue from the nasal mucosa. The
glands degenerate and distend. Thus, cysts in the polyp are degenerated,
mucus-filled glands.
