title: Hypoxia in paranasal sinuses of patients with chronic sinusitis with or without the complication of nasal allergy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In order to elucidate the pathogenesis of the radiologic opacity of the sinuses frequently observed in patients with allergic rhinitis, the mechanisms underlying their sinus mucosal swelling were studied clinically.
  
  
  METHODS
  We confirmed the presence of hypoxia in inflamed sinuses and obstruction of the sinus ostium in operated patients with chronic sinusitis by digitally monitoring the oxygen tension. The possibility of radiologic sinus shadow was also investigated after transient obstruction of the natural ostium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The oxygen tension was significantly lower in inflamed than non-inflamed sinuses (p < 0.01), irrespective of the presence or absence of allergic rhinitis. In 54.5% of patients without sinusitis, transient obstruction of the middle meatus by gauze packing resulted in the appearance of a pathologic sinus shadow on radiograms obtained after septoplasty and turbinotomy. In both allergic and non-allergic rhinitis, thick opacity was the most frequently encountered pattern (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study revealed that in the absence of a primary allergic reaction in the sinus mucosa, blocking of the middle meatus and ostium by allergic swelling of the nasal mucosa may induce hypoxia and secondary mucosal swelling in the sinuses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, Japan. shoji@med5.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsune
authors.forename: Motoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ushikai
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurono
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008443:Maxillary Sinus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015523:Maxillary Sinusitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010313:Partial Pressure; D011859:Radiography; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen