I've developed a sinus infection over 3 months ago. I had a CT scan done and then I was referred to an ENT specialist who looked at the scan and put a pipe up my nose for a quick look around (sorry don't know the name for it), after which he gave me more antibiotics (they have had no effect then, and they've still had no effect a month later).
The CT scan came with a report, that my family doctor read before he referred me but my ENT doctor did not look at as far as I know. He did look at the scans themselves though. What has started to worry me is that I showed the report to a friend who is studying medicine and he told me that it says that there could be a tumor in there! Now neither my family doctor nor the ENT guy said nothing about that! Maybe they were trying to not worry me, or maybe they're idiots, I don't know. But I am so angry at them at the moment, I don't think I want to talk to them again for keeping things from me. I did read the document myself, but I did not understand the terminology and nobody explained it to me.
The CT scan, which is written by another doctor, says that I have a "possibility of an underlying obstructing mass lesion such as inverted papilloma and specialist referral is suggested for direct visualisation". I did not know this until my friend told me, but "inverted papilloma" is a tumor.
So the question is would the 2 minute pipe up my nose the ENT doctor did detect that? Or would that need to be a more thorough test?
Relax! As you claimed your innocence in this situation, please do not get upset. Inverted papilloma is a histopathological diagnosis and not a clinical diagnosis. The pipe (nasal endoscope) was inserted inside the nose to examine the appearance of the mass if any? The area from where it is arising, status of the turbinates and to record secondary infection if any.
The incidence ranges from 0.5 % to 4 % of all primary nasal tumors and it is prevalent in the fifth and sixth decades of life. Males are 4 to 5 times more common to be affected than females. The most common presenting complaint was nasal obstruction (50%), nasal discharge (20.8%), epistaxis (16.6 %) and 4.2% of the patient presented with frontal sinusitis.
All said and done, an apt surgeon does not perform surgery until it is not manageable through medical line.
If your doctors have not informed that you are having a tumour, it is only because they did not want to commit until the histopathological examination is done. Also if you read the report carefully the radiologist has not committed either. Instead he has quoted that there is a possibility of inverted papilloma, which has to be confirmed by direct visualization and histopathological examination.
Please, do have faith in your doctors. Go back to your doctor and talk to him, also mention that you are not improving with the medicines given by him, so is there any other alternatives. Forget not, to mention about inverted papilloma also. All the best.
Regards
OHNS2010