Sinus Barotrauma—Late Diagnosis and Treatment with Computer-Aided Endoscopic Surgery

Larsen AS, Buchwald C, Vesterhauge S. Sinus barotrauma—late diagnosis and treatment with computer-aided endoscopic surgery. Aviat Space Environ Med 2003; 74:180–3.

Sinus barotrauma is usually easy to diagnose, and treatment achieves good results. We present two severe cases where delayed diagnosis caused significant morbidity. The signs and symptoms were atypical and neither the patients themselves, nor the initial examiners recognized that the onset of symptoms coincided with descent in a commercial airliner. CT and MRI scans of the brain were normal, but in both cases showed opafication of the sphenoid sinuses, which lead to the correct diagnosis. Subsequent surgical intervention consisting of endoscopic computer-aided surgery showed blood and petechia in the affected sinuses. This procedure provided immediate relief.