We included 1 study with moderate risk of bias, reporting data in such a manner that we could not assess the value of symptom duration and purulent rhinorrhea in adults suspected of having acute bacterial rhinosinusitis. Recommendations to distinguish between a viral and a bacterial source based on purulent rhinorrhea are not supported by evidence, and the decision to prescribe antibiotic treatment should not depend on its presence. Based on judgment driven by theory and subsidiary evidence of a greater likelihood of bacterial rhinosinusitis after 10 days, antibiotic therapy may seem a reasonable empirical option.

There is a lack of coherence between surface to capillary distance as determined by SDF or IDF imaging and fluid balance or weight gain. Thus, focal distance as a microvascular index of edema formation cannot currently be used as a proxy for systemic indices of edema formation. However, given the lack of coherence, further research should determine whether focal distance may provide better guidance for fluid therapy than traditional markers of overzealous fluid administration.