title: Does the severity of sinus computed tomography findings predict outcome in chronic sinusitis?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We studied the association between the severity of pretreatment CT scan findings and the improvement in symptoms of chronic sinusitis after treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from an ongoing prospective, nonrandomized clinical outcomes study of patients treated for chronic sinusitis at a tertiary-care academic medical center (n = 57, mean age 46.8 years). Disease-specific symptom severity was measured with a validated health status instrument, and CT stage was quantified with the Harvard CT staging system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In a multivariate analysis, symptom severity based on CT findings emerged as a strong predictor of both improvement in symptom score outcome (beta = 0.47, P = 0.01) and absolute symptom level after treatment (beta = -0.58, P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Severity as assessed by a pretreatment CT scan is a strong predictor of outcome. Patients with higher symptom severity based on CT scans showed significantly larger improvement and lower absolute levels of symptom severity after treatment. This study links CT scan findings and subjective patient-based outcomes (symptom scores) using a validated outcomes instrument.
authors.affiliation: Bobby R. Alford Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Parke
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bautista
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009298:Nasal Polyps / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome