Natasha Gunther, 25, from California, US, shared her medical story on the social media platform. The video shows a huge dent on the right side of her head and a long scar on her scalp, which was destroyed by sinusitis.
Natasha used to have sinusitis once a year, and every time she went to the hospital and was given the usual anti-bacterial medication, it would almost always go away. But in 2021, she had five or six sinus attacks. At first, doctors prescribed antibiotics for what they thought was a normal sinus infection, but the inflammation kept recurring and even worsened, with vomiting and severe migraines.
On December 12, 2021, Natasha went to the hospital for a systematic examination and a CT scan, which revealed that her sinusitis had caused a staphylococcal and streptococcal infection that had spread to her brain, forming an inflammatory mass that had “forced” her brain to move 9mm to the right. Doctors said she would have died within a week if she had not been examined.
Natasha underwent an emergency neurosurgical craniotomy to remove 12 to 14 centimeters of her skull to reduce the pressure on her brain from the infection and to avoid brain damage. She then underwent further sinus surgery. She now wears a hard hat every day to protect her head.
Why does a common sinusitis cause a craniotomy?
Sinuses are small cavities connected to the nasal cavity, including the maxillary sinuses, frontal sinuses, ethmoid sinuses, and sphenoid sinuses. They increase the area of the nasal mucosa and help warm and moisten the inhaled air. Trauma, upper respiratory tract infection, respiratory tract allergic reaction and other factors can cause inflammation of the sinus mucosa, sinusitis, leading to runny nose, nasal congestion. The symptoms of sinusitis vary according to the site of infection. If it is maxillary sinusitis, there may be pain in the cheek, toothache, and headache immediately below the eye. Frontal sinusitis causes pain above the forehead; Ethmoid sinusitis can cause pain above the forehead, pain behind the eyes and in the area between the eyes, which can often be described as tearing, and tearing; The location of pain in sphenoidal sinusitis is often fluid.
In general, sinusitis can be cured by taking anti-infective drugs and rarely causes complications. However, due to the rich network of blood vessels in the nasal cavity and sinuses, as well as complex connections with the orbit and intracranial, some patients have more severe disease, and the inflammation spreads quickly. Once the sinus wall is damaged, it can spread to other tissues. When the inflammation affects the orbit, it can lead to orbital abscess, intraocular retinal inflammation, and cause eyeball protrusion, swelling, and vision loss. Spread of intracranial, can cause epidural abscess, suppurative meningeal live ⒛ Yun е vertebral caries squid refers to xia take ⒕ Si yi barking blow Dijon trick sit hi people quite the pavilions vessels to the amount of tip gnats red in regent and anterior fontanelle lowe ancient �
Therefore, even if sinusitis is more common, we should pay enough attention to strive for active treatment in the acute phase (within 30 days), so as not to gradually develop chronic sinusitis, difficult to cure. During the onset of sinusitis, nasal glucocorticoids, macrolides, antihistamines, antileukotrienes, mucolytic excretion promoters and other drugs can help control mucosal inflammation. Nasal saline irrigation as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy may also be used for the long-term treatment of refractory sinusitis.
Surgical treatment should be considered if acute sinusitis develops complications or becomes chronic and does not respond to medical treatment.
