Correlation of clinical examination with computer tomography in paranasal sinus disease

The accuracy of clinical examination in predicting radiologic paranasal sinus disease was investigated. Two hundred forty-seven patients who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery over a 4-year period were clinically and radiologically staged prior to surgery. A clinical staging system was developed utilizing fiberoptic intranasal examination to adequately visualize the anterior and posterior ostiomeatal complex structures with special attention to the mucosal status. The degree to which the clinical staging was able to predict and correlate with radiologic staging and predict the degree of sinus opacification was determined. Clinical and radiological presence of middle turbinate anomalies, septal deviation, and other structural anomalies were also evaluated. Clinical examination correlated well with radiologic examination: 74% sensitivity and 84% specificity). More than 94% of the patients with frank polyp disease had pansinus opacification involving the sphenoid. In the presence of normal mucous membranes, the absence of middle turbinate anomalies correlated with a normal computed tomography. However, with the exception of middle turbinate hypertrophy, the ability to clinically predict concha bullosa or paradoxical curvature was low and did not influence the overall computed tomography result.