are CT scan findings related to patient symptoms?
Chronic sinusitis is a prevalent problem. The symptoms of CS cause patients to seek medical attention, and therefore the presence of symptoms drives the use of health care resources. There is widespread clinical belief that computed tomography (CT) scan findings may be a reasonable proxy for disease severity in chronic sinusitis, and many authors have proposed that CT scan findings make up the key component in severity staging systems for chronic sinusitis. However, the relationship between symptom severity and CT scan findings in chronic sinusitis has not been well explained to date. To explore this relationship further, we examined data from consecutive patients with both a CT scan and a sinusitis symptom score, from ongoing prospective outcomes studies at two large academic centers in different cities (n = 254). CT scans were graded using two validated staging systems; symptom severity was assessed using two validated health status instruments and summary items. In addition, we expl
