Diagnosing Sinus Infection
Sinus infection is diagnosed based on the medical history and physical examination of an infected person. Before treating the patient with the sinus infection, it is necessary to know whether the patient is suffering from the common upper respiratory infection or just cold. Sinus infection, often called Sinusitis, cause due to the bacterial infection within cavities. Its treatment mostly contains the antibiotics.
In some of the cases of sinus infection, it is noticed that viral infection also can cause Sinusitis. Diagnosing should be done for the proper treatment of sinus infection because over treatment of viral infections can be harmful for anyone. Following are the options available for the sinus infection diagnosis:
- CT Scan
When tests are necessary to diagnose the sinus infection CT scan becomes helpful in that case. It depicts structure surrounding the sinus, nasal passages and paranasal sinuses. CT scan can be helpful to identify the sinus infection through following conditions:
- The change in level of air-fluids in sinuses
- Sinus blockage
- Mucosal thickening
A person with Mucosal thickening may not show any symptom of sinusitis. Hence, the data gathered from the physical examination and CT scan should be correlated to symptoms that person is showing. This can provide proper guidance for the effective treatment.
- Ultrasound
It is known as the noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of sinus infection. However, it is more fast and cheaper than CT scan, but the result cannot be detailed. Therefore, ultrasound is not a mostly used tool for the diagnosis of sinusitis worldwide. As of now, medical community of the world is in doubt about its success, especially for the ENT physicians.
- Rhinoscopy
In this method of diagnosis, the back passage of nasal is checked with the help of a small optic tube, which is so flexible that it can go through the nostrils. It helps to find what obstructs the in these nostrils.
In some of the cases of sinus infection, needle aspiration also can be performed. Needle aspiration is useful to detect the type of bacteria that has caused this infection. In this procedure, cultures are detected carefully for the malaria infected material. However, these cultures are not so effective to determine the kind of infection and the bacteria caused sinus infection.
Apart from these tests and exams, some physical symptoms are helpful to diagnose the sinus infection. Coughing is one of the major effects of sinus infection. In this type of coughing, an infected person suffers from coughing especially during evening hours. Other symptoms like neck pain, fatigue and fever if come together to a person that can confirm the sinus infection. These signs can be seen for a week before the infection is properly diagnosed. These symptoms remain same for all categories of age.
