“I thought it was a cold, but it’s surgery?” This disease that can be caught even in the middle of summer

[이데일리 이순용 기자] Mr. Kim, an office worker living in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, went to the hospital with a stuffy nose, yellow nasal discharge, and a throbbing headache despite the continued heat wave, and was unable to hide his bewilderment when he was diagnosed with chronic sinusitis. He thought it was just a simple cold with a runny nose and would get better if he took medicine, but he was told that surgery would be necessary.

According to statistics from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, the number of patients treated for chronic sinusitis (disease code J32) decreased from 2,202,387 in 2019 to 1,469,827 in 2020 when COVID-19 broke out, and then increased to 2,141,991 in 2023, similar to the pre-COVID-19 level.

There are several empty spaces (sinuses) centered around the nose in the human face. Sinusitis occurs when the sinus drainage ducts become blocked by infection or polyps caused by viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It was commonly called sinusitis in the past because the sinuses were filled with pus-like yellow snot.

Sinusitis is largely divided into chronic and acute, with symptoms diagnosed as acute within 4 weeks of onset, and chronic sinusitis if they persist for more than 12 weeks. Most cases of acute sinusitis are cured with medication alone, but if acute sinusitis is left untreated for a long time or there is an anatomical abnormality in the paranasal sinuses or a lesion in the mucous membrane, it progresses to chronic sinusitis.

Usually, most acute sinusitis within 12 weeks can be treated with medications such as antibiotics or expectorants, but chronic sinusitis that has been left untreated for a long time often requires surgery. Sinusitis surgery is performed by removing the nasal mucosa and polyps that are inflamed and not treated with medication, opening the sinus entrance, and draining the accumulated secretions to open the airway.

Most surgeries are performed using endoscopes, and recently, navigation surgeries are becoming more common, where the patient’s CT scan is imported into navigation equipment before surgery, the surgical area or risk area is input in advance and designated, and then the patient’s nose is reconstructed into a 3D image based on the CT scan, enabling more accurate surgery and reducing the risk of complications that may occur during surgery.

Dr. Seung-Tae Kim, Director of the Nasal Disease Center at Daein ENT Hospital, a specialist in otolaryngology, said, “Sinusitis that does not improve despite appropriate and sufficient drug treatment requires surgical treatment, and it is important to minimize complications and aftereffects through this,” adding, “However, surgical treatment does not work for all sinusitis, so depending on the patient’s condition, they should realistically consider whether surgical treatment will be helpful by consulting with a specialist.”

Meanwhile, Director Kim advises, “In these days of continuous heat waves, it is helpful to maintain an appropriate temperature so that the indoor and outdoor temperature difference does not exceed 5-6 degrees when using the air conditioner, and to increase immunity through regular exercise to help prevent sinusitis.”

Lee Soon-yong (sylee@edaily.co.kr)