A seven-year retrospective analysis of the clinicopathological and mycological manifestations of fungal rhinosinusitis in a single-centre tropical climate hospital

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinicopathological and mycological manifestations of fungal rhinosinusitis occurring in the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, in Klang, Malaysia, which has a tropical climate.

METHODS: Records of patients treated from 2009 to 2016 were analysed retrospectively. Data from the records were indexed based on age, gender, clinical presentations, symptom duration, clinical signs and mycological growth.

RESULTS: Of 80 samples, 27 (33.75 per cent) had fungal growth. Sixteen patients were classified as having non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis and 11 as having invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. The commonest clinical presentation was nasal polyposis in non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis patients (p < 0.05) and ocular symptoms in invasive fungal rhinosinusitis patients (p < 0.05). The commonest organism was aspergillus sp. (p < 0.05) in non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis and mucorales in invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.

CONCLUSION: There is an almost equal distribution of both invasive and non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, as seen in some Asian countries. Invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, while slightly uncommon when compared to non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, is potentially life threatening, and may require early and extensive surgical debridement. The clinical presentation of nasal polyposis was often associated with non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, whereas ocular symptoms were more likely to be associated with invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.