ArticleCureus2023
A Potential Novel Treatment for Chronic Cough in Long COVID Patients: Clearance of Epipharyngeal Residual SARS-CoV-2 Spike RNA by Epipharyngeal Abrasive Therapy.
Article in Cureus, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Observational
- A narrative review of SARS-CoV-2 variants and long COVID.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- The Central Role of Macrophages in Long COVID Pathophysiology.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Viral persistence in long COVID: Research advances and treatment strategies.Infectious diseases & immunity · 2025Review
- Retracted: Chronic Epipharyngitis Treated with Epipharyngeal Abrasion Therapy: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Pathogenesis, and Treatment Outcomes.JMA journal · 2025Review
- Spatial transcriptomics of the epipharynx in long COVID identifies SARS-CoV-2 signalling pathways and the therapeutic potential of epipharyngeal abrasive therapy.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Differences Between Patients With Chronic Epipharyngitis With and Without Previous COVID-19 Infection.Cureus · 2024Article
- COVID-19 annual update: a narrative review.Human genomics · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A major target of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the epipharyngeal mucosa. Epipharyngeal abrasive therapy (EAT) is a Japanese treatment for chronic epipharyngitis. EAT is a treatment for chronic epipharyngitis in Japan that involves applying zinc chloride as an anti-inflammatory agent to the epipharyngeal mucosa. Here, we present a case of a 21-year-old man with chronic coughing that persisted for four months after a diagnosis of mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), who was treated by EAT. We diagnosed chronic epipharyngitis as the cause of the chronic cough after the SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 spike RNA had persisted in the epipharyngeal mucosa of this Long COVID patient. EAT was performed once a week for three months, which eliminated residual SARS-CoV-2 RNA and reduced epipharyngeal inflammation. Moreover, a reduction in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines was found by histopathological examination. We speculate that the virus was excreted with the drainage induced by EAT, which stopped the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. This case study suggests that EAT is a useful treatment for chronic epipharyngitis involving long COVID.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.