BACKGROUND:

Invasive fungal rhinosinusitis is an uncommon disease with high mortality rates. There is currently no consensus on the best treatment timing. We studied the impact of the treatment timing on the survival of patients experiencing invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.

METHODS:

We conducted a retrospective study of patients suffering from invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. The duration of symptoms, clinical presentations, clinical signs, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes were collected.

RESULTS:

It was observed that more than 70% of the mortalities occurred within the subgroup of patients who exhibited symptoms of the disease within 14 days before admission. After adjusting for the confounders, the time taken to treat the patients was the most statistically significant predictor for mortality (P = 0.045). We found no significant relationships between mortality and its significant covariates, which included the underlying diseases (P = 0.91) or complications (P = 0.55).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study demonstrates that the time taken to treat the patients is an important determinant for the survival of patients who are afflicted with invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. The appropriate treatments should be administered within 14 days from the time the symptoms begin to manifest.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25288891