THE 10-DAY MARK AS A PRACTICAL DIAGNOSTIC-APPROACH FOR ACUTE PARANASAL SINUSITIS IN CHILDREN

Background. Sinusitis is one of the diseases most frequently overlooke d by the primary practitioner. Methods. We suspected the diagnosis of sinusitis in children with respiratory symptoms that persisted for >10 days: the 10-day mark. A radiographic projection of maxillary sinuses (Water's view) was indicated, and patients with abnormal radiographs were diagnosed as having sinusitis. After antimicrobial treatment for 2 weeks, we evaluated clinical outcome and follow-up radiographs. Resu lts. The 10-day mark culled 146 suspected children from 2013 outpatien ts with respiratory complaints. Water's view radiographs revealed sinu sitis in 135 patients (92.5% of the suspected children). They included 35 patients with allergy. After treatment only 4 patients in the alle rgy group (11%) improved completely. In contrast 61 nonallergic patien ts (61%) were completely improved. Conclusions. The 10-day mark is a s imple and practical diagnostic basis for acute paranasal sinusitis. Th e associated allergic respiratory diseases respond infrequently to ant imicrobial treatment.