This document discusses the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of sinusitis. Key points include: - Patients typically experience facial pain, congestion, and nasal discharge following a viral infection. Fever is present in about half of acute cases. - Diagnosis is based on symptoms and physical exam findings like tenderness over the sinuses. Imaging is usually not needed for typical cases. - Treatment involves nasal decongestants, pain medications, steam inhalation, and antibiotics for bacterial infections. Patients should follow-up within 1-7 days. - Complications like orbital cellulitis require immediate intervention. Do not ignore signs of serious infection.

1. Sinusitis
Presentation
Following a viral infection, the patient will usually complain of a dull pain in the face,
gradually increasing over a couple of days, exacerbated by sudden motion of the head,
or holding the head dependent, between the knees, and perhaps radiating to the upper
molar teeth (via the maxillary antrum), or with eye movement (via the ethmoid
sinuses). Often there is a sensation of facial congestion and stuffiness. Children with
sinusitis often present with cough and fetid breath. Fever is only present in half of
patients with acute infection and is usually low grade. A high fever usually indicates a
serious complication such as meningitis or another diagnosis altogether.
Transillumination of sinuses in the ED is usually unrewarding, but you may elicit
tenderness on gentle percussion or firm palpation over the maxillary or frontal sinuses
or between the eyes (ethmoid sinuses). Swelling and erythema may exist and you may
even see pus draining below the nasal turbinates, with a purulent, yellow-green and
sometimes foul-smelling or bloody discharge from the nose or running down the
posterior pharynx. The patient's voice may have a resonance similar to that of a
"stopped up" nose, and he may complain of a foul taste in his mouth. Stuffy ears and
impaired hearing are common because of associated serous otitis media and eustachian
tube dysfunction.
What to do:
• Rule out other causes of facial pain or headache via history (did the patient wake
up with a typical migraine?) and physical examination (palpate scalp muscles,
temporal arteries, temperomandibular joints, eyes, and teeth).
• Shrink swollen nasal mucosa (and thereby open the ostia draining the sinuses)
with 1% phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine) or 0.05% oxymetazoline (Afrin) nose
drops. Drip 2 drops in each nostril, have the patient lie supine 2 minutes, and
then repeat the process (this allows the first application to open the anterior
nose so the second gets farther back). Have the patient repeat this process
every 4 hours, but for no more than three days (to avoid rhinitis
medicamentosa).
• Examine the nose for purulent drainage before and after shrinking the nasal
mucosa with topical vasoconstrictor.
• Add systemic sympathomimetic decongestants (e.g., pseudephedrine (Sudafed)
60mg q6h or phenylpropanolamine (Entex LA) 75mg q12h).
• If there is fever, pus, heat, or any other sign of a bacterial superinfection, add
antibiotics (e.g., amoxicillin, trimethoprim plus sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin plus
clavulinate, erythromycin plus sulfasoxazole, cefuroxime). First-line antibiotic
therapy is amoxicillin, or, for patients with penicillin allergy, Bactrim or Sulfa. If
the patient has been recently treated with these medications or if the infection
appears to be serious, then treat with a second-line drug like Ceftin or
Augmentin.
• Provide pain relief, when necessary (e.g., ibuprofen, naproxyn, acetaminophen,
oxycodone, hydrocodone)

2. • Recommend symptomatic relief with hot water vapor inhalation using a simple
teakettle or hot shower or, if available, a steam vaporizer or home facial sauna
device.
• Sinusitis can sometimes be demonstrated on x rays, and you can usually get
adequate visualization of maxillary, frontal, and ethmoid sinuses with one upright
Water's view. Chronic sinusitis appears as thickened mucosa; acute as an air-
fluid level or complete opacification. Films are usually not necessary, however,
on an emergency basis. If symptoms and physical findings of sinusitis are classic,
plain sinus radiographs need not be obtained before treatment. If an acute
attack does not resolve with medical treatment, or the diagnosis of sinusitis is in
doubt, plain films are helpful as the primary imaging study.
• Arrange for followup within 1-7 days.
What not to do
• Do not ignore signs of an orbital cellulitis with swelling erythema, decreased
extraocular movements and possible proptosis. These patients require
consultation and admission for intravenous antibiotics.
• Do not ignore the toxic patient with marked swelling, high fever, severe pain,
profuse drainage, or other signs and symptoms of a serious infection. See
potential complications below. These patients require immediate consultation
and intervention.
• Do not prescribe antihistamines, which can make mucous secretions dry and
thick, and interfere with necessary drainage. Antihistamines only cure sinusitis on
television, or when it is due to allergic rhinitis.
• Do not allow patients to use decongestant nose drops more than 3 days, thereby
allowing their nasal mucosa to become habituated to sympathomimetic
medication. When they stop the drops they will suffer a rebound nasal
congestion (rhinitis medicamentosa) which requires time, topical steroids, and
reeducation to resolve.
• Do not prescribe topical or systemic sympathomimetic decongestants to a patient
who suffers from hypertension, tachycardia or difficulty initiating urination, all of
which may be exacerbated.
Discussion
The paranasal sinuses drain through tiny ostia under the nasal turbinates which, if
occluded, allow secretions and pressure differences to build up, resulting in pressure
and pain of acute sinusitis, and the air-fluid levels sometimes visible on upright x rays.
Sinus infections are relatively common and complications relatively rare, but the bony
walls of the paranasal sinuses are so thin that bacterial infections can spread through
them. Most sinusitis begins with mucosal swelling from a viral upper respiratory
infection. Other causes include dental infection, allergic rhinitis, barotrauma from flying,
swimming or diving, nasal polyps and tumors and foreign bodies, including nasogastric
and endotracheal tubes in hospitalized patients. Abscessed teeth can be the source of a
maxillary sinusitis. If there is tenderness to percussion of the bicuspids or molars,
arrange for dental referral.

3. Complications such as orbital cellulitis, osteomyelitis, epidural abscell, meningitis,
cavernous sinus thrombosis and subdural empyema can be devastating and therefore
patients must be instructed to get early follow up when signs and symptoms worsen or
do not improve in 48-72 hours, or if there is any change in mentation. Frontal sinusitis
has the greatest potential for serious complications, particularly in adolescent males,
the group at greatest risk for intracranial complications.br Computerized tomographic
scanning of the sinuses is more accurate than plain x rays, particularly when evaluating
the ethmoid or sphenoid sinuses, but CT scans are needed from the ED only in unusual
circumstances. Most patients can have initial treatment begun on the basis of history
and physical findings alone. Anyone who has facial pain, headache, purulent nasal
discharge and nasal congestion persisting for more than ten days, with or without a
fever, should probably be treated empirically for sinusitis.
Many patients have been conditioned by the advertising of over-the-counter
antihistamines for "sinus" problems (usually meaning "allergic rhinitis"), and may relate
a history of "sinuses" which, on closer questioning, turns out to have been rhinitis.