Prevalence and clinical profile of fungal rhinosinusitis.

Abstract

Background:There are only a few landmark studies from the Indian subcontinent on fungal rhinosinusitis. The lack of awareness among clinicians regarding the varying clinical presentations of fungal rhinosinusitis prompted us to undertake this study.Objective:To determine the prevalence, etiologic basis, clinical features, radiologic features, and microscopic features of fungal rhinosinusitis, and to evaluate the various treatment modalities available.Methods:This was a prospective study in which evaluation of 100 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis was done. Specimens collected were subjected to both microbiology and pathologic examination; data collected, including clinical and radiologic features, were analyzed by the Pearson χ2 test and Fisher's exact test.Results:The prevalence of fungal rhinosinusitis in our study was 30% (n = 30). Mucor was the most commonly isolated species (n = 15 [50%]) of fungus. Pathologic examination had a higher sensitivity (76.67%) compared with microbiology tests (50%) in the diagnosis of fungal rhinosinusitis. Fungus ball (n = 14 [46.6%]) was the most prevalent entity in the spectrum of fungal rhinosinusitis. Forty percent of cases (n = 12) were of invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. The prevalence of fungal rhinosinusitis was higher among individuals who were immunocompetent (n = 17 [56.6%]). Of patients who were immunocompromised, 84.6% (n = 11) had mucormycosis.Conclusions:Unilateral involvement of paranasal sinuses was more in favor of fungal etiology. Complications were more common in fungal rhinosinusitis caused by Mucor species. Mucormycosis, a rare clinical entity, in subjects who were immunocompetent, had a high prevalence in our study.