Chronic Sinusitis

Coronal CT images of the sinuses before treatment and after.


Chronic sinusitis affects 32 million people each year and accounts for 11.6 million visits to the physicians offices. Chronic sinusitis affects people in all age groups and is a common disease worldwide. The cavities around the nasal passages known as the sinuses become inflamed and swollen and this interferes with the drainage and causes mucus to build up. Chronic sinusitis may be caused by an infection but can also be caused by growths in the sinuses known as nasal polyps, or a deviated nasal septum. While most people have a short-lived bout of sinusitis known as acute sinusitis, chronic sinusitis is sinusitis that lasts more than eight weeks or keeps coming back.

Patients with chronic sinusitis usually present the following symptoms:
Nasal stuffiness, nasal discharge, drainage of a thick, yellow or greenish discharge from the nose or down the back of throat, pain, tenderness and swelling around your eyes, cheeks, nose or forehead, headache, sore throat, fatigue or irritability,as well as a chronic unproductive cough.

To look for the cause of these symptoms a doctor may use several methods to help screen for chronic sinusitis such as Nasal Endoscopy, imaging sudies utilizing CT or MRI, nasal and sinus cultures along with allergy testing. Treatment for chronic sinusitis includes prescribing antibiotics, if allergies are a contributing factor immunotherapy (allergy shots) will be administered. In cases that continue to resist treatment or medication, endoscopic sinus surgery may be the only option.