FREQUENCY OF ALLERGIC FUNGAL AETIOLOGY OF CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS

Objective: the aim of this study was to find out the frequency of intranasal fungal sinusitis in patients attending a tertiary care hospital in north west frontier province (nwfp) of pakistan.material and methods: this study was conducted in the ent department of khyber teaching hospital peshawar pakistan from november 2004 to may 2006. one hundred patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (crs) and 50 healthy subjects as a control group were included in this prospective study. nasal lavage samples were investigated for the presence of fungus, using new culture technique and histological examination. epidermal and intradermal hypersensitivity tests were used to find out fungal atopy. levels of serum eosinophils, total ige were estimated in the blood samples.results: allergic fungal sinusitis was diagnosed in 13 (13%) patients. clinical and laboratory parameters of crs were not significantly different in the groups with and without intranasal fungi.conclusion: in this study frequency of fungal sinusitis was not as high as expected in patients living in nwfp with crs. furthermore, no significant correlation could be found between presence of intranasal fungus and type- i hypersensitivity in patients with crs