A Gentler Way to Diagnose Sinusitis?

The reason many doctors prescribe antibiotics for sinus symptoms is because the alternative – waiting several days for a culture to come back – can be slow, and, in very rare cases, dangerous.

The reason many doctors prescribe antibiotics for sinus symptoms is because the alternative – waiting several days for a culture to come back – can be slow, and, in very rare cases, dangerous. But until recently, that days-long window was an inescapable reality of the diagnostic process.

Now researchers have floated a possible new way to get immediate answers about sinus infection. A process known as “Gas in Scattering Media Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS)” involves some high-tech imaging processes to “sample” the air in patients’ noses for instant answers – no waiting:

The results showed a good stability of the GASMAS signals over extended times for the frontal sinuses of all volunteers, showing promising applicability to detect anomalies due to sinusitis.

Few areas of ENT medicine would be better served by a faster diagnostic process than sinus infection. We’ll keep a watch on this process as it wends its way through a number of testing protocols, and continue to give our patients access to the best procedures in the meantime.