Etiology and Nature of Chronic Hyperplastic Sinusitis

In studying the literature dealing with chronic hyperplastic sinusitis one is struck with the fact that there is no accepted consensus as to its etiology or its relationship to the allergic diseases. For the past three years we have been studying a group of cases showing various degrees of hyperplasia of the membranes lining the paranasal sinuses and covering the turbinates. These hyperplasias were found to be associated mainly with manifestations of asthma and hay fever, but various other allergic conditions have been present to a lesser extent. We think that it is essential to the proper conception of these problems to determine whether an individual case is of the skin-sensitive type or the bacterial or infective type, or belongs to both types. So many reports based on clinical or operative studies are confusing because of lack of information of this sort. Two schools of thought have developed which seek