Kosin Medical Journal

Original article

Orbital complications of acute rhinosinusitis in adults: a 21-year experience: Yung Jin Jeon, Woohyen Jin, Yeon-Hee Joo, Hyun-Jin Cho, Sang-Wook Kim; Kosin Med J. 2024;39(2):120-126. Published online June 4, 2024; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7180/kmj.24.111

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Background
Orbital complications arising from acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) are a major concern for clinicians and serve as important warning indicators of ARS. Prompt recognition and appropriate management are crucial for preventing potential vision-threatening sequelae. Orbital complications of rhinosinusitis are markedly more common in children than in adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of orbital complications of ARS in adult patients.
Methods
This retrospective observational cohort study analyzed the medical records of 176 patients admitted for orbital cellulitis/abscess (ICD code: H050) who underwent orbit or paranasal computed tomography from January 2001 to February 2022 at a tertiary hospital.
Results
Eighteen adults with a mean age of 53.2±18.9 years were diagnosed with orbital complications due to ARS: five (27.8%) had preseptal cellulitis, eight (44.4%) had orbital cellulitis, and five (27.8%) had subperiosteal orbital abscess. None of the patients had an orbital abscess or cavernous sinus thrombosis. All patients had unilateral orbital complications (7 right and 11 left) and were managed with intravenous antibiotics for an average of 10.3±6.6 days. Five patients with subperiosteal orbital abscesses underwent intranasal endoscopic drainage at an average of 1.4±1.9 days after admission, while two patients required additional external drainage. Complete recovery was observed in all patients.
Conclusions
Conservative antimicrobial therapy can be effective for treating orbital complications from ARS, and not all adult patients require immediate surgical intervention for subperiosteal abscesses. Nonetheless, careful monitoring is essential, and an ophthalmologist must check patients’ visual acuity to prevent irreversible blindness.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Imaging characteristics and clinical correlations of orbital infections in pediatric sinusitis
Xing Zhang, Chen Wang, Lulin Bi, Shuxin Wen
Head & Face Medicine.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
Orbital Complications of Rhinosinusitis in Adults: A 10-Year Retrospective Cohort Study
José Alberto Fernandes, António Andrade, Pedro Valente, Ricardo Vaz
Cureus.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Beyond the sinus: orbital extension of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis – a case report and literature review
Girish Mishra, Yojana Sharma, Manali B. Gaudani, Simran J. Parmar
International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.2025; 11(6): 765. CrossRef

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