Objective: To determine the prevalence of intraorbital and intracranial extension of fungus-related sinonasal polyposis at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methodology: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan between August 2013 to August 2014. Only those cases were included in the study whose diagnosis of nasal polyp with fungal infection was confirmed by the clinical examination and post operative histopathological investigation. A Questionnaire was designed and filled by investigators after validation and reliability assessment. SPSS version 16.0 was used for data analysis.
Results: A total of 98 cases of fungal nasal polyposis were included in this study. Overall, 13.3% of the patients had intracranial extension, 27.6 % had intraorbital extension and the combined erosion rate was 39.8 %. Patients of age group 20-30 years had the highest complication rate among all i.e. 28.6%. No statistically significant gender preponderance was noted.
Conclusion: Fungal nasal polyposis has significant incidence of serious complications relating to eyeball and cranium. Most patients seek help late due to lack of awareness about the severity of complications. There is a need to increase the skills of general practitioners to diagnose nasal polyposis and early referral of the patients to the rhinologists.
Key words: Fungus, nasal polyposis, rhinologists, intracranial complications, intraorbital complications
|
