In this article lets understand the diagnosis of chronic sinusitis and What is the role of CT PNS in diagnosing. CT PNS is the preferred investigation for diagnosis of chronic sinusitis, which is nothing but the CT scan of the nose and sinus.
What is the role of CT PNS in diagnosing and treating a patient having chronic sinusitis?
The sinuses air pockets are present behind the skull. For example, the frontal sinuses are present behind the thick frontal bone, which is present just above our eyebrows. The maxillary sinuses are present behind the cheekbone. The ethmoid sinus and the sphenoid sinus are large sinuses present in the ethmoid bone and the sphenoid bone, which are present very deeply in the skull.
CT PNS not only helps in diagnosis of chronic sinusitis but it helps your sinus surgeon plan his surgery. The CT PNS films are carried along with you to the operation theatre. When the surgeon is operating on you, and when he’s doubtful about certain findings, he goes back to the CT scan.
It is very important for the sinus surgeon to plan his surgery in advance using the CT PNS to complete the surgery without producing any complications. CT PNS forms the heart and the soul of the navigation sinus surgery.
In navigation sinus surgery, CT PNS helps in diagnosis of chronic sinusitis but also it is used as simply as like Google maps to reach your sinus destinations, while avoiding the tools and the roadblocks.
How is CT PNS superior to X-ray PNS in diagnosis of chronic sinusitis?
The X-ray PNS and CT PNS are technologically more than five decades apart. The amount of information you get from a CT PNS is far superior to what you get from an X-ray of the nose and sinuses. We cannot visualize the ethmoid sinuses and the sphenoid sinuses within the X-ray PNS, because of the positioning of the patient during the X-ray, and also because of the technological limitations.
Doctor can visualize the maxillary sinuses and the frontal sinuses in an X-ray PNS, but the disease within the sinuses will come out only if it is very, very significant. And even if doctor confirm chronic sinusitis within these sinuses, doctor cannot understand what the drainage pathways look like by looking at an X-ray of the nose and sinus.
Hope we could explain in detail about Diagnosis of Chronic Sinusitis and What is the role of CT PNS in diagnosing. To know more about CT Scan PNS cost in Hyderabad or if your looking for Sinus surgery in India, Get an appointment with sinus specialist doctor in Hyderabad, Dr G V K Chaitanya Rao.
FAQs: Common concerns patients express about CT PNS
CT PNS is a very simple scan. Upon undergoing CT PNS, you expose yourself to 0.5 mSv. Naturally in a year in India, you expose yourself to about two to three mSv. That is, you are getting one-fifth to one-sixth the dose you get from natural radiation by undergoing CT PNS. To put it simply, you can undergo four to five CT scans safely in a year.
Pregnant women, especially in the first two trimesters, that is in the first six months of pregnancy and children below 15 years of age, should ideally not undergo a CT scan, until and unless it is very much necessary.
No. CT PNS is not painful at all.
It takes approximately 15 to 30 seconds for the CT PNS to complete. The more the slices of the CT scan, the lesser the time taken to complete the CT scan.
Children below the age of 15 years should not undergo a CT scan of the nose and sinuses, until and unless it is very much necessary.
If three months have passed since the last time you underwent an investigation, your sinus doctor will definitely ask for the investigation again, so that he can understand to what extent the disease has progressed. Radiation-wise, you can undergo four to five CT scans in a year. So that’s not a problem.
The CT scan film on exposure to sulfur in the air gets degraded. So you have to always keep the CT scan film covered. Also don’t fold the CT scan film, as it’ll cause some kind of staining on the CT scan. The CT scan films are going to be outdated in the coming five years. The CT scan films will start to get printed on photo papers or will be transmitted digitally.
