Sinusitis

sinusitis

Inflammation of the sinuses. Acute sinusitis, usually due to infections such as the common cold, causes localized pain and tenderness, nasal obstruction and discharge, and malaise. Nose drops or inhalations containing drugs that contract blood vessels help drain the sinuses. Antibiotics may be used for bacterial infections. Chronic sinusitis, with frequent colds, pus, obstructed breathing, loss of sense of smell, and sometimes headache, may follow repeated or untreated acute attacks, particularly with impaired breathing or drainage. If antibiotic therapy or repeated lavage (rinsing out) does not help, surgery to open passages for drainage may be needed.

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sinusitis

inflammation of the membrane lining a sinus, esp a nasal sinus

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sinusitis [‚sī·nə′sīd·əs]

(medicine)

Inflammation of a paranasal sinus.

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Sinusitis 

an inflammation of the paranasal sinuses in man and animals. In humans, acute sinusitis usually arises as a complication of influenza, acute respiratory diseases, or other infectious diseases; chronic sinusitis develops from acute sinusitis that has not been completely cured.

The general symptoms of acute sinusitis include elevated body temperature, headache, abundant nasal discharge, and difficulty in breathing through the nose, most often on one side. With chronic sinusitis, there is usually no increase in body temperature and the other symptoms are less pronounced. Localization of the process determines the symptoms. Sinusitis may be catarrhal or purulent, depending on the type of inflammation. With chronic sinusitis, proliferations of the mucosa (polyps) often form in the paranasal sinuses and the nasal cavity.

Several different forms of sinusitis are distinguished, depending on which sinus is affected. The most common form is maxillary sinusitis, which is an inflammation of the maxillary sinus. With frontal sinusitis, the frontal sinus becomes inflamed; with ethmoid sinusitis, the ethmoidal labyrinth; and with sphenoid sinusitis, the sphenoidal sinus. Sometimes the inflammatory process spreads to all the paranasal sinuses on one or both sides (pansinusitis). Treatment includes the use of medicinal agents, the administration of heat (hot-water bag, compress), and physical therapy. Sometimes surgical treatment is indicated. Prophylaxis includes the timely treatment of the cause of the disease. [23–1294–]