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Background: Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis has been associated with high mortality rates., Objective: We aimed to explore the contribution of novel detection and treatment methods on the outcome of immunosuppressed children with acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis., Methods: The records of all children with a hematologic or oncologic disease who developed acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis between 2005-2020 were reviewed., Results: Thirty-four patients were included. Aspergillosis and mucormycosis were diagnosed in 20 patients (59%) and 12 patients (35%), respectively. Panfungal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was associated with a change of treatment in 36% of patients. A more aggressive surgical approach as well as treatment with liposomal amphotericin B and novel antifungals were adopted in recent years. Overall, 26% of patients died of disease, however no disease-specific death occurred since 2012. Diagnosis using panfungal PCR ( p    =   .04) and treatment with novel antifungal medications ( p    =   .017) were significantly associated with disease-specific survival., Conclusion: Enhanced fungal detection using panfungal PCR and treatment with novel antifungal agents, combined with rapid diagnosis and treatment, aggressive surgical approach and better control over the underlying oncological disease, may significantly improve the outcome of immunosuppressed children with acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.

Objective: There is limited information regarding the recurrence patterns and efficacy of surveillance modalities in patients with sinonasal malignancies., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted between the years 2001-2018 at a tertiary care center. Included were all patients with sinonasal malignancies treated in our institution. Data regarding recurrence and survival were analyzed., Results: Eighty-one patients were included. Multimodal treatment was administered to the majority of patients. 24 (35.3%) patients recurred with a median time of 17 months (range, 4-180). Although the majority of recurrences occurred within the first 5 years (83.3%), 4 (16.6%) recurred later on (5-15 years). Recurrences were local in 83.3%, regional in 20.8% and distant in 16.6%. All local recurrences occurred within the radiation treatment field and all patients with distant failure had mucosal melanoma. The majority of recurrences (70.6%) were diagnosed clinically or endoscopically, mainly in patients with SCC during the first 2 years of follow up. MRI or PET-CT were crucial in detecting extra-sinus and distant failures. Salvage surgery was feasible in the majority of patients (58.3%). Overall, 5 years survival (OS) rate was 60.9%., Conclusions: Frequent clinic visits with nasal endoscopy combined with frequent imaging studies should be routinely practiced as part of a long-term surveillance plan. Longer follow up duration should be considered in these patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Surgeons are often faced with concerns regarding the risks versus benefits of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in elderly patients., Objective: To analyze the risk for complications of ESS in the elderly (age ≥70 years) compared to younger patients, with emphasis on octogenarians., Methods: Retrospective review of medical charts of adult patients who underwent ESS at a tertiary referral center during the years 2014 to 2018., Results: We compared 128 elderly patients with 276 matched younger patients. In the elderly group mean age was 76 years (range, 70-91 years ). Thirty-one elderly patients were 80 years or older. Surgical complications in the elderly patients were 3.9%. Minor complications were 2.3% and major complications were 1.7%. The surgical complications rate was similar in the younger group (8%, P value: .127). Medical complications were observed in 2.3% comparing to 0.7% in younger patients. Interestingly, age, revision surgery, extent and duration of surgery, and modality of anesthesia were not identified as risk factors. Only ischemic heart disease (IHD) was identified as a risk factor for complications in a multivariate analysis in elderly patients. Comparison of elderly patients younger than 80 years with octogenarians revealed no difference in complication rate between these groups., Conclusions: Overall, ESS was found to be a safe procedure in elderly patients compared to younger patients. Octogenarian patients should not be denied upfront surgery. IHD is a risk factor for complications in elderly patients.

Introduction: Survival rates of solid organ transplant recipients are steadily increasing. Chronic immunosuppression is a key to sustain the transplanted organ. Thus, these patients are at a higher risk for fulminant disease and severe complications of rhinosinusitis (RS). Surprisingly, this has been scarcely discussed in the literature., Objective: To analyze the characteristics and disease course of RS in solid organ transplant recipients., Materials and Methods: Retrospective study. Medical records of all solid organ transplant recipients with a diagnosis RS treated at a national transplant center between the years 2001 and 2016 were reviewed., Results: Of 4562 solid organ transplant recipients, a documented diagnosis of RS was identified only in 61 (1.3%) patients. Sixty-four patients presented with posttransplantation RS; of them, 54.5% had chronic RS (CRS) and the remaining 45.5% patients were diagnosed with acute RS. Microbial cultures grew almost exclusively bacterial pathogens. A documented invasive fungal infection was noted in only 2 patients. A total of 24 (40%) patients underwent endoscopic sinus surgery, the majority (22) for CRS. On subgroup analysis, surgical intervention was more frequent in lung transplant recipients ( P = .005). Neither specific disease nor surgical complications were found., Conclusions: Interestingly, acute fulminant infection or sinusitis complications in solid organ transplant patients were much lower than expected. CRS in this patient group was less frequent than expected as well. Whether chronic immunosuppression minimizes the likelihood for CRS deserves further investigation. A more surgically oriented approach in CRS patients may be favored early in the management course of medically refractory patients in light of patients excellent outcomes.

Background: Reports regarding the incidence and antibiotic susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in rhinosinusitis (RS) are limited. This study was designed to identify epidemiology and trends of MRSA incidence and antimicrobial resistance in the sinonasal cavities., Methods: This is a retrospective case series. All intranasal/sinus cultures obtained by otolaryngologists at Stanford over a 20-year period (1990-2010) were retrospectively reviewed by mining the microbiology database. Nested searches were then made for all S. aureus and MRSA cultures. Patterns of incidence and changes in antibiotic susceptibilities were tabulated and statistical analysis was performed., Results: Our search retrieved 10,387 positive intranasal culture samples, with S. aureus found in 800 (7.7%), and MRSA comprising 110 (1.06%) of this subset. Between the years of 1990 and 1999, only 2/112 (1.7%) of S. aureus-positive nasal cultures were positive for MRSA, with a sharp rise in incidence to 86/606 (14.2%) from 2000 to 2005, and to 22/82, 26.8% from 2006 to 2010. On a percent basis, using logistic regression modeling, this represents a statistically significant increasing trend (p < 0.0001) for MRSA sinusitis. However, over the 20-year interval studied, the patterns of antibiotic resistance among MRSA remained unaltered, especially with regard to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and vancomycin., Conclusion: S. aureus and MRSA isolates from intranasal cultures, which were essentially absent before the year 2000, became significantly more common earlier this decade. These data show the increased role of MRSA in sinusitis. MRSA antibiotic susceptibilities have remained, however, largely stable during this time period.