title: 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 χ(2) 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, PSG Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suresh
authors.forename: Dayanand
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arumugam
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zacharias
authors.forename: Sengottaiah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palaninathan
authors.forename: Ravisankar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vishwanathan
authors.forename: Vaidyanathan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venkatraman