A total of 251 adults with chronic sinusitis were enrolled into this prospective multicentre, double-blind, double-placebo comparison of ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice daily) with amoxy-cillin/clavulanic acid (500 mg three times daily). The diagnosis of chronic sinusitis (persistence of clinical symptoms for at least 3 months) was confirmed by computerized tomography scan and/or sinusoscopy prior to therapy. Patients at inclusion had purulent or muco-purulent rhinorrhoea. Staphylococcus aureus (n = 45), Haemophilus influenzae (n = 35), Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 32) and enterobacteriaceae (n = 31) were isolated from pre-treatment aspirates of the middle meatus. Treatment lasted 9 days, at the end of which nasal discharge disappeared in 71/118 (60.2%) patients of the ciprofloxacin group and 69/123 (56.1%) of those in the amoxycillin/clavulanic acid group. The clinical cure and bacteriological eradication rates were 58.6% versus 51.2% and 88.9% versus 90.5% for ciprofloxacin and amoxycillin/clavulanic acid, respectively. These differences were not significant, however, amongst patients who had a positive initial culture and who were evaluated 40 days after treatment. Ciprofloxacin recipients had a significantly higher cure rate than those treated with amoxycillin/clavulanic acid (83.3% vs. 67.6%, p = 0.043). Clinical tolerance was significantly better with ciprofloxacin (p = 0.012), essentially due to a large number of gastro-intestinal related side-effects in the amoxycillin/clavulanic acid group (n = 35). Ciprofloxacin proved to be at least as effective as amoxycillin/clavulanic acid. The superior safety profile, a twice daily dosage regimen, suggests that ciprofloxacin may be a useful therapeutic alternative for the treatment of chronic sinusitis.

Radiopaque concretions in the maxillary sinus in cases of sinusitis are often observed in infections with aspergillosis. For several authors, such features are considered to be typical of these infections. For us this foreign body in most cases is believed to be related to overfilling of the teeth. We have previously drawn attention to this fact. We report 85 cases of aspergillosis of the maxillary sinus. Cases involving immunosuppressed patients were excluded because of very different clinical conditions. A radiopaque foreign body was seen in 94% of the cases. Of this group, 85% were believed to be related to overfilling of maxillary teeth with dental paste, particularly since evidence for endodontic treatment was found in the premolar/molar region. An image of intrasinus dental paste was demonstrated in 12% of the cases as a direct extension of filling paste from affected teeth. The nature of the dental paste is important because the zinc contained can stimulate the growth of Aspergillus fumigatus. In vitro studies in our laboratory also showed that the growth of A. fumigatus was stimulated with a low concentration of zinc.

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The efficacy and tolerability of ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice daily) was compared with that of amoxycillin/clavulanic acid (500 mg three times daily) in 76 patients with acute exacerbations of chronic non-cholesteatomatous suppurative otitis media enrolled in this open randomized multicentre trial. A total of 40 ciprofloxacin-treated patients and 35 amoxycillin/clavulanic acid-treated patients were evaluable for clinical efficacy following the 9-day treatment period. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the main pathogen isolated prior to treatment. At the end of treatment, otorrhoea had disappeared in 57.5% of the ciprofloxacin group and 37.1% of the amoxycillin/clavulanic acid group (p = 0.04). Bacterial eradication rate was also significantly greater with ciprofloxacin (69.7%) than with amoxycillin/ clavulanic acid (27.3%). Both treatments were well tolerated. Ciprofloxacin appears to be an effective treatment of chronic otitis media, and superior to amoxycillin/clavulanic acid.

The contents of the infratemporal fossa have been studied using CT scans, anatomical dissections and radiography of the anatomical specimens. On the strength of this, 3 distinct regions are discernable: the anterior part of the fossa contains the fat pad of the cheek and this area corresponds to the retromaxillo-zygomatic region; the region of the pterygoid m. contains vascular structures and lies behind the preceding region; the pterygopalatine fossa, formerly considered the deepest part, extends the infratemporal fossa superiorly and medially. These anatomical and radiographic findings could serve as a guide to maxillo-facial surgeons dealing with expanding lesions within the infratemporal fossa, or invading it from adjacent regions.