Many patients have a stuffy nose and headache with pus, and when they go to the hospital, the doctor will tell you that you have sinusitis, and even recommend surgery, many patients have doubts about this. Does sinusitis need surgery? Can it be cured by taking medication?
Let’s first understand what is sinusitis? Sinusitis, as the name implies, is an inflammatory disease of the sinuses, which are air-containing cavities in the skull around the nasal cavity; there are four pairs, called frontal sinus, maxillary sinus, septal sinus, and pterygoid sinus, respectively.
The sinuses are air-containing cavities and have very small openings to the nasal cavity, which can reduce the weight of the skull and form a resonant cavity, which is very important for vocalists. When we catch a cold, the inflammation of the nasal cavity spreads to the sinuses and acute sinusitis occurs, with nasal blockage, increased purulent nasal discharge, reduced sense of smell and headache.
When the cold is cured, acute sinusitis is usually cured quickly, but some patients, due to poor resistance or recurrent inflammation, will lead to the occurrence of chronic sinusitis, symptoms such as persistent pus and headache, and sometimes even nasal polyps, or with the growth of mycobacteria, if not cured for many years.
The actual sinusitis is harmful, patients should pay attention to 1, triggering memory loss Sinusitis makes breathing poor, causing lack of oxygen to the brain, resulting in inattentiveness memory loss, etc., affecting people’s work and life.
2, affect the nose, throat, eyes and other surrounding tissues inflammation.
The nasal cavity is directly connected to the oral cavity, pharynx, and lower respiratory tract and digestive tract. Severe involvement of the orbit can lead to periorbital and intraorbital infections forming abscesses, cellulitis, retrobulbar optic neuritis and other complications, and even the risk of blindness.
3.When the immunity of the body is lowered and the sinus drainage is poor, the inflammation can spread to the skull through the congenital defect of the skull base structure, the vein connected with the skull, the olfactory extension via the sheath and other pathways, leading to serious complications such as brain abscess and meningitis. In severe cases, contralateral facial and upper limb muscle paralysis or convulsions may occur, and abscess rupture may cause purulent meningitis.
4, focal and downstream infection Sinusitis, as a focal point of infection, can also cause infectious arthritis, tenosynovitis and gastrointestinal dysfunction.
So what tests do you need to do for sinusitis?
Sinusitis examination 1, CT examination has become an important means of diagnosing sinusitis, and is also one of the series of examinations that must be done before sinusitis surgery. CT scan is divided into coronal and horizontal scans. Sinusitis often coexists with nasal polyps. CT can show the extent of sinusitis with nasal polyps and clearly show the fine structure of each sinus and its adjacent areas, providing an important basis for doctors to diagnose and treat sinusitis. Through CT, it also helps to distinguish sinusitis from other diseases such as sinus cancer.
2. Nasal endoscopy is important for the early detection of malignant nasal polyps and various nasal sinus diseases, and nasal endoscopy has also become an effective tool for doctors to diagnose and treat rhinological diseases.
So when does sinusitis require surgical treatment? Of course it is not always necessary to have surgery for sinusitis, even for chronic sinusitis, but it needs to be judged according to the condition. Since sinus is an air-containing cavity in the skull, doctors need to use CT and other imaging examinations to understand the condition. If the CT examination suggests only an inflammatory reaction of the mucous membrane and the drainage of the openings of each sinus is possible, then it is possible to obtain a good treatment effect through conservative treatment, but if the CT shows a heavy inflammation, especially with anatomical abnormalities that lead to the blockage of the opening between the sinus and the nasal cavity, it is like an un The purpose of surgery is not to remove the sinuses, but to open the sinuses and open a window to the unventilated room, so that the inflammatory material inside can flow out, and then with medication, sinusitis can be cured.