Prevalence of fungal infection in nasal polyposis - A cross-sectional study, conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of fungal infections causing nasal polyposis (AFRS-Allergic fungal rhino sinusitis) in the local population. METHODS: It is a cross sectional study, carried out from October 2010 to January 2015 on 221 patients in the ENT Department of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical & Dental College in collaboration with the microbiology department. This study included patients who had a clinical diagnosis of nasal polyposis with or without fungal infection on the basis of nasoendoscopic examinations. All patients underwent Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) and the diagnosis of (AFRS-Allergic fungal rhino sinusitis) was considered after histopathological confirmation of eosinophilic mucous containing hyphae. Numerator included the total number of patients who presented to the ENT out-patient clinic of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital suffering from nasal polyposis secondary to fungal infection during the follow-up period of the study. On the other hand, denominator included all the patients who attended the ENT out-patient clinics during the same follow-up period. This determined the period prevalence of fungal infections in nasal polyposis at a tertiary care centre in Karachi. RESULTS: Data was collected, a descriptive analysis was performed and a Computed Tomography (CT) grading was done. On the basis of histopathology, 90 (40.7%) patients were found to have fungal infection. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of fungal infections was 40.7% (90 patients) in nasal polyposis.

Wound Healing and Bone Regeneration in Postextraction Sockets with and without Platelet-rich Fibrin.

CONTEXT AND AIM: In today's world of advanced dentistry, there are various aspects of restorative, esthetic, and surgical processes. Healing of an extraction socket comprises of bone as well as soft-tissue remodeling with maximum dimensional changes occurring during the first 3 months. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) was first developed in France as a therapeutic alternative to platelet-rich plasma to overcome many of its limitations. The present study was planned to evaluate and compare wound healing and bone regeneration in extraction sockets with and without PRF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was carried out on 30 patients selected from the outpatient department over a period of 2½ years starting from May 2013 undergoing extraction of maxillary or mandibular teeth simultaneously to conduct a split-mouth study. The research protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee governing the use of human subjects in clinical experimentation. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive and analytical statistics were calculated using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19. Chi-square test was used to assess wound healing score in the two groups while paired t-test was used to compare the bone density in the socket and periapical regions at different time intervals, and unpaired t-test was used for the intergroup comparisons. P < 0.05 was considered to be significant while P < 0.001 was considered highly significant. RESULTS: Patients in PRF group had better healing index when compared to without PRF group. Use of PRF showed a comparable increase in bone density too. CONCLUSION: An appreciable wound healing and bone regeneration was seen in the experimental group when compared to the control sites where no PRF was used substantiating the use of PRF as an inexpensive autologous material for socket preservation and future rehabilitation. The present study, also, showed that minimal operator expertise was required to conduct the procedure of PRF preparation and grafting when compared to bone harvesting from distant sites. The shorter duration between extractions and further rehabilitation obviates the need for a second procedure.