A Comparative Study between Diagnostic Nasal Endoscopy and Computed Tomography of PNS in Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Background: Chronic rhino sinusitis affects a significant population worldwide, imposing a huge toll on the human economy as well as on quality of life. Chronic headache is one of the most common symptoms which are distressing to both patients and physicians. The investigative modalities available for an ENT surgeon are many like X-ray, CT scan, DNE, etc. Hence, this study is taken to compare the computed tomographic findings to the diagnostic nasal endoscopy findings in patients with chronic Rhinosinusitis. Objectives: This study aims to compare CT-scan findings and DNE findings in diagnosing Chronic Rhinosinusitis. Material & Methods: 60 Patients attending ENTOPD at ESIC Medical College & Hospital with any Sino-nasal complaints lasting for more than 4 weeks and not responding to medical line of management. Patients are selected by random sampling method. Patients were evaluated with CT scan and DNE. Results: Sixty patients with chronic rhinosinusitis participated in the study. Their mean age + standard deviation was 38.5 + 10.19 years, ranging from 20 to 63 years. The median was 37.5 years. The largest proportion (45%) of the sample aged30–39 years old, only 10% aged ≥50 years. The main symptoms of the patients were nasal obstruction (81.6%), Headache (78.3%), and nasal discharge (45%). Conclusions: Nasal endoscopy has sensitivity and specificity almost as good as CT scanning, and being an outpatient procedure, it may reduce unnecessary diagnostic scanning procedures & define cost-effective and easily an available diagnostic tool.