Prevalence and clinical profile of patients with chronic fungal maxillary sinusitis

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Fungal paranasal sinus disease is considered to be rare but there has been a marked increase in the number and diversity of reported cases of fungal infections of maxillary sinus in recent years. Objectives were to study the incidence of fungal infection in case of chronic maxillary sinusitis, to identify specific type of fungus involved in maxillary sinus infection and to study clinical profile of the patients with fungal infections of maxillary sinus.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A prospective study of was conducted involving the patients attending outpatient department of Otorhinolaryngology, who were clinically and radiologically proved cases of chronic maxillary sinusitis. Patients diagnosed with underlying paranasal sinus malignancies were excluded from the study. 70 patients of chronic maxillary sinusitis were included in the study. Isolates were identified based on colonial and microscopical morphology. Subcultures were done and slide cultures were prepared to identify the fungi. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Fungus was cultured from 12.8% of patients suffering from chronic maxillary sinusitis. The most frequent victims of the disease were young persons in the second decade of life. All patients found positive for fungus had unilateral maxillary sinusitis. <em>Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans</em> and <em>Mucormycosis</em> were the various fungi isolated from cultures of antral washings.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The results of the study emphasise the role of fungi as important pathogens of chronic maxillary sinusitis. There must be high index of suspicion of fungal infection when a young adult with a unilateral antral opacity on X-ray with frank pus in antral washings.</p><p> </p>