Peripheral eosinophilia in the diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis

Purpose: To determine the relationship between peripheral blood eosinophili a and chronic rhinosinusitis. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of consecutive operative cases during 1 calendar year. The preoperative complete blood cou nt (CBC) were tabulated for three groups of patients: those undergoing endo scopic sinus surgery, those undergoing septoplasty with turbinate reduction alone, and a nonrhinologic control group. Statistical analysis was perform ed to determine differences in the components of the CBC among these three groups of patients and to identify significant associations between abnorma l peripheral eosinophil counts and these diagnoses. Results: A total of 87, 32, and 92 patients were identified for the endosco pic sinus surgery (ESS), septoplasty, and control groups, respectively. Sig nificant differences in the percentages of eosinophils, lymphocytes, and ne utrophils were noted among the three groups (P <.05). Comparison among grou ps indicated that ESS patients had significantly higher percent peripheral eosinophilia when compared with both the control group and septoplasty grou p (P <.001 and P =.010, respectively); no significant difference was noted between the septoplasty group and the control group (P =.627). The sensitiv ity and specificity of the peripheral eosinophil count for chronic sinusiti s were 49.4% and 84.7%, respectively. Conclusions: The peripheral eosinophil count in chronic sinusitis is elevat ed compared with both a nonrhinologic control group and a group of patients with septal deviation. Furthermore, abnormally elevated eosinophil counts are associated with chronic sinusitis but not chronic rhinitis alone. Howev er, this association is not strong enough to be used in the diagnosis of ch ronic sinusitis because of poor sensitivity.