Past Articles Create username. By Margaret Clark, BA, RN, RRT Sinusitis, an inflammatory disease of the sinus, affects anywhere from 31 to 35 million Americans annually. While sinusitis by itself is a general malady, it becomes far more serious in respiratory care circles because it exacerbates asthma attacks and triggers emergencies related to other pulmonary diseases.
Proper treatment requires clinicians to understand the way sinusitis works.
Clinically, sinusitis is an infection or inflammatory condition of one or more of the paranasal sinuses, the air-filled spaces within the bones of the head. These spaces are lined by ciliated epithelium containing goblet cells, nerves, blood and lymphatic vessels and glandular rich connective tissue. The inflammatory process that causes sinusitis is frequently associated with inflammation of the nasal passages, more commonly called rhinitis, and usually seen as a precursor to sinusitis. Clinicians often assume rhinitis precedes much of sinus disease and that treating rhinitis can prevent or improve sinusitis. But the association between rhinitis and sinusitis is not always so clear-cut.