Acute and chronic sinusitis in children

Management of Allergic Rhinitisand Sinusitis

Allergic rhinitis and sinusitis are chronic conditions of the airway and cause significant morbidity. Both can require pharmacotherapy with nonprescription products to relieve symptoms or with prescription products to treat the underlying pathophysiology. Because these diseases are prevalent conditions, the pharmacist is in the unique position of being the first health professional contact for many patients. The pharmacist can assist the patient in selection of nonprescription antihistamines, decongestants, and nasal saline sprays as well as provide instruction on the use of steam therapy, aromatic vapors, and warm compresses for the relief of symptoms. Equally important, the pharmacist can encourage patients to seek care from a physician when treatment with intranasal corticosteroids, antibiotics, and nonsedating antihistamines are needed.

The role of allergy in pediatric rhinosinusitis

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review focuses on the association between allergic disease and pediatric rhinosinusitis. For this purpose, allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) were the areas chosen for further discussion.

RECENT FINDINGS

The role of allergy as a major immunopathologic mechanism causing inflammation in pediatric rhinosinusitis is becoming better defined. However, despite the fact that allergic rhinitis and CRS are characterized by inflammation, there appears to be a distinct difference in the inflammatory response of children and adults with CRS, which may attest to a difference in the pathophysiologic pathways. Local allergic rhinitis, a recently described pathological entity, appears to affect a significant number of patients with a previous diagnosis of nonallergic rhinitis, making this a prevalent entity in patients evaluated with rhinitis. With regard to the relationships between allergy and infectious diseases, it has been reported that basophils are activated in the presence of suboptimal doses of allergens and bacteria and may explain the clinical behavior of allergy exacerbation.

SUMMARY

Allergic rhinitis is frequently associated with CRS. The management of CRS should include evaluation of the pediatric patient for allergic disease and the management should be targeted at decreasing the inflammatory response, which will most likely result in better control of the CRS patient.

Pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Pediatric acute and chronic rhinosinusitis are common pediatric ailments averaging six to eight occurrences a year with 0.5-5% of these progressing to acute sinusitis. A yet undefined number of children progress to chronic sinusitis. Significant resources are spent treating children for sinus infections that would otherwise clear on their own. Practice guidelines for chronic sinusitis are needed.

RECENT FINDINGS

Good prospective studies are lacking because of the shear numbers of patients that must be enrolled to obtain a homogeneous population for study. This lack of good prospective studies prevents the development of pediatric practice guidelines for medical and surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis. Most recent studies focus primarily on pathophysiology and medical management. An area of significant knowledge deficit is the role of gastroesophageal reflux disease in chronic sinusitis. There have been no recent significant changes in the medical or surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis other than the rationale of performing an adenoidectomy prior to endoscopic sinus surgery for eradication of biofilms.

SUMMARY

Current therapy for pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis continues to be prolonged courses of antibiotics and if the symptoms persist, staged surgical intervention with initial adenoidectomy followed by partial or anterior ethmoidectomy.