Diagnosis of Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis

Background: allergic fungal sinusitis is a non-invasive disease,and accounts for approximately 6-8% of all chronic sinusitisrequiring surgical intervention. as the treatment andprognosis of these disorders vary significantly, it is extremelyimportant to recognize allergic fugal sinusitis and differentiateit from chronic sinusitis of bacterial and fungal origin. thisprospective study evaluates the occurrence of allergic fungalrhinosinusitis in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with orwithout polyposis, who were surgically treated in khalili hospitalduring one year.methods: the study comprised 38 patients with chronic rhinosinusitiswith or without polyposis as case and 10 patientswith chronic rhinosinusitis as control. the diagnosis of allergicfungal sinusitis was based on analysis of clinical, radiological,histological, mycological, and immuno allergic criteria.results: from a total of 38 patients, 9 were consistent with allergicfungal rhinosinusitis. twenty-one patients had histological,clinical, and radiological findings suggestive of allergicfungal sinusitis but were negative for fungal culture. some ofthese patients had characteristics that recently described aseosinophilic mucin rhinosinusitis. none of the control cases hadhistological or mycological evidence of allergic fungal sinusitis.conclusion: nine (23.7%) patients had findings consistentwith allergic fungal rhinosinusitis. however, more specificdiagnostic tests such as skin test and specific ige should beperformed to confirm the diagnosis