Chronic sinusitis: symptoms versus CT scan findings.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The association between symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis and findings on a sinus CT scan remains controversial. Although the 1997 Task Force on Rhinosinusitis definition of chronic rhinosinusitis includes only symptoms and signs, many clinicians use CT scans for diagnosis and assessment of disease severity.

RECENT FINDINGS: Two prospective studies evaluated associations between symptoms and CT scan findings. One study compared the diagnosis of chronic sinusitis with findings using a validated CT staging system; the CT findings were poorly predictive of the presence or absence of chronic sinusitis. The other study used a nonvalidated assessment of symptoms and several measurements from CT scans and identified a few significant associations.

SUMMARY: There are few recent studies explicitly addressing symptom severity and CT scan findings in chronic sinusitis. Most studies conclude that there is little correlation between CT findings and symptoms but that both are important in the evaluation of sinusitis.