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Background: Priming is a psychological phenomenon where subconscious cues in the environment impact our behavioral responses in certain situations. Well studied in the worlds of business, marketing, and even politics, it is unclear how the priming phenomenon impacts patient perception of their own disease state nor how they report that perception using tools like the Sinonasal Outcomes Test (SNOT-22), used to measure that perception in chronic rhinosinusitis. Objective: To determine the impact of positive or negative priming on self-reported patient perception of their chronic rhinosinusitis disease using the SNOT-22 disease-specific quality of life instrument. Methods: Single-blind, randomized, prospective cohort pilot study of 206 consecutive adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis presenting to a university rhinology clinic. Patients were randomized to receive "positive priming" (103) or "negative priming" (103) by reading a passage about the positive or negative aspects of chronic sinusitis and its treatment respectively. Patients were then asked to fill out the SNOT-22 and results between the two groups were compared. Results: The negative priming group had a higher median SNOT-22 score of 49 [IQR = 39] compared to the positive priming groups' score of 22 [IQR = 27], p < 0.0001), a difference of nearly three times the minimal clinical impactful difference (MCID). This effect was consistent regardless of age or sex of the patient. Subgroup analysis revealed a greater impact when priming was performed by the senior male attending regardless of patient age or sex (p < 0.001), while priming performed by the younger female research fellow had greater impact on older patients (>59 years, p = 0.001) and female patients (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Priming impacts how patient's perceive their chronic rhinosinusitis as determined by the SNOT-22. It is imperative that the rhinologist understand this when using this instrument in research applications and in clinical decision-making for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Balloon sinuplasty is increasingly used in the outpatient clinic for treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, but radiologic analysis of its effects on sinonasal anatomy is largely uncharacterized in the known literature. Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the anatomic effects of balloon sinuplasty in a cadaveric model. Methods: Five fresh cadaver heads underwent sequential endoscopic balloon dilation of maxillary ostia, frontal recess outflow tracts, and sphenoid ostia bilaterally by fellowship-trained rhinologists. Pre- and post-procedural CT imaging was obtained. CT scans were imported into Mimics™ software and sinonasal anatomy was analyzed systematically. Results: Visual confirmation of balloon dilation was achieved in all 3 sites bilaterally in each cadaver. Radiologic analysis demonstrated that the frontal sinus outflow tract was appropriately dilated 60% (6/10 sites) of the time while the agger was inadvertently dilated 30% of the time (3/10). The sphenoid os was successfully dilated 70% (7/10 sites) of the time. In two cases, a posterior sphenoethmoid (Onodi) cell was dilated instead of the sphenoid. Successful dilation of maxillary os was noted 60% of the time (6/10 sites). No significant change in maxillary os was noted after balloon dilation. Normal middle turbinates were significantly medialized following balloon dilation 75% (6/8 sites) of the time. Conclusions: While the goal of balloon sinuplasty is to improve natural sinonasal drainage by dilating existing outflow tracts, as evidenced by radiologic evaluation the procedure appears not to achieve this in all cases, while occasionally creating unintended changes in sinonasal anatomy as well. These unrecognized changes in anatomy may be responsible for the post-procedure change in symptomatology that some patients experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]