Free breathing is often perceived as something natural. Only with the appearance of nasal congestion does a person begin to feel discomfort and think about the health of the sinuses. Pneumatization is an important indicator in medicine. This characteristic allows you to determine the presence of pathologies in the field of respiratory organs.
What is pneumatization of the sinuses?
The bone structure of the human face is formed in such a way that it has many sinuses, that is, cavities that are located in a very specific way and play an important role in the daily life of a person. These cavities vary in size and in shape.
An important feature is that these cavities surround the human nose, in such sinuses the air inhaled by a person is warmed, moistened, cleaned of dust and only then enters the respiratory system.
These sinuses are also called sinuses. Pneumatization of the sinuses is a term used in medicine. It means a constant process of filling the sinuses with air, which should fill them completely. The sinuses are connected to the nasal cavity, and air circulates in them continuously.
If there is a violation of pneumatization, then this is a signal for the doctor when making the correct diagnosis. It is important to understand that such a complex structure allows a person to receive normal air into the airways. In this case, the work of the sinuses affects the timbre of the human voice.
What affects pneumatization?
Medical studies have proven that the structure and volume of the sinuses are strictly individual. The volume of air that enters the person depends on this, this aspect also depends on the structure of the bone structure of the face.
Pneumatization of the sinuses is not characterized by the volume of air that passes through the sinuses. Doctors examine the quality of the mucous membrane of the surfaces of the sinuses, as well as the presence of external neoplasms that can interfere with stable operation or provoke changes in the bone structure.
Changes and malfunctions in pneumatization occur due to infections, bacteria or injuries. Inflammation of the mucous membranes leads to the formation of edema, which interferes with the normal passage of air. In the sinuses, mucus and pus forms, which require cleansing. A person inevitably feels difficulties with nasal breathing, a feeling of fullness around the nose appears.
Swelling may be due to an allergic reaction to external stimuli. At the same time, a lot of mucus is secreted, pus does not accumulate during allergies if the bacterial, infectious nature of the lesion is absent.
The degree of pneumatization of the sinuses of the nose depends on the age of the person. In children, only by the age of 10-12, the structure of the nasal sinuses develops to the state of an adult, before that the process of air circulation is different, we can say that it does not work in full.
Pneumatic reduction
In medical practice, a decrease in pneumatization of the sinuses is most often observed. This phenomenon is unlikely to occur unnoticed by humans, as it is accompanied by difficulty in breathing. This phenomenon develops against a background of chronic or acute inflammation.
Depending on the sinuses that have been affected, the following causes of pneumatic deterioration are distinguished:
- Sinusitis When the focus of inflammation is located in the maxillary sinuses.
- Frontite. This is if the disease develops in the frontal parts.
- Ethmoiditis. Affects the ethmoid cavity.
- Sphenoiditis. It is characterized by inflammation in the sphenoid sinus.
- Pansinusitis Inflammation affects all paranasal appendages.
Separately, a term such as "sinusitis" should be highlighted. What is it? This is the name for the process of inflammation of the nasal sinuses, regardless of their location and name. It is characterized by the inflammatory process of the mucous membrane.
The above pathologies relate to diseases of the nose, but in some cases, a decrease in pneumatization occurs against the background of dental diseases. Obviously, this is sinusitis of the maxillary sinuses. The correct diagnosis is made by the doctor based on the examination.
Pneumatic boost
Increased pneumatization of the sinuses is much less common in medical practice. Most often this is due to anomalies in the structure of the skeleton of the face. In individual cases, such a symptom may indicate a violation in the endocrine system.
Although the ENT doctor reveals such deviations, the treatment is carried out by a specialist of a different narrow profile.
What cases require a visit to the doctor?
How to determine that it is time to turn to a specialist and undergo a course of treatment? Doctors recommend that you do not neglect the body's signals and carefully monitor unwanted symptoms.
If pneumatization of the sinuses is not disturbed, then the process of breathing will not cause any discomfort in a person. Most likely, the nasal region will not attract attention at all. Otherwise, the signs of disease will be:
- Pain syndrome that occurs with a sharp turn of the head, tilting it forward.
- Feeling of fullness from prolonged nasal congestion.
- The presence of purulent and mucous discharge, which is commonly called a runny nose.
- Fever.
- Bad nose odor.
- General feeling of weakness and fatigue in a person.
- The appearance of lacrimation.
All of these factors can indicate that inflammation of the mucous membrane occurs in the sinuses of the nose. Do not wait until the intensity of the symptoms takes unbearable momentum, an early visit to the doctor is the key to a quick recovery. Most of the pathologies that violate the pneumatization of the sinuses of the nose are treatable, the main thing is to detect them in time and prevent complications.
Diagnosis and treatment of deviations
When contacting a doctor, it is important not to hide any symptoms. At the first appointment, it is very important to describe the condition of the specialist, which will allow him to draw up a preliminary picture of the disease and choose the direction of diagnosis.
The main diagnostic measures are as follows:
- Oral questioning of the patient.
- Initial examination with ENT tools.
- X-ray examination, on the basis of which the degree of pneumatization of the sinuses is determined.
Based on the data received, the doctor determines the need for treatment and selects the appropriate method. To eliminate problems with pneumatization resort to drug therapy, which can vary as follows:
- Taking antibiotics. It is prescribed if the cause of the deviations is an infection.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs. They are used to eliminate or reduce edema, hormonal agents are often used.
- Vasoconstrictor drugs. These drugs fight manifestations of nasal congestion.
Doctors do not recommend self-medication in order to prevent the development of complications. What kind of drugs, in what quantity and combination to use, should be determined by the attending physician.
Possible complications
The prolonged uncontrolled development of inflammation in the sinuses of the nose leads to the development of complications that can not only impair health, but also threaten life. This is due to the fact that the sinuses are located close to other vital organs.
The most dangerous complications:
- Transition of the inflammatory process to the meninges (meningitis).
- The spread of the purulent process in the orbital region, which threatens vision loss.
- The development of otitis media (inflammation of the ear), which can impair the patient’s hearing quality.
- The ingress of pathogenic organisms into the bronchi leads to the development of bronchitis.
- If the infection enters the bloodstream, then sepsis develops, which threatens a person’s life.
All these complications develop if a person has not consulted a doctor for a long time, ignoring the symptoms sent by the body.
Health prevention
The main prevention of nasal health lies in general measures to strengthen immunity. If you constantly maintain the body in good shape, it will be less susceptible to the influence of pathogenic bacteria.
Another condition for good health is considered timely medical attention. Early diagnosis and proper treatment will quickly forget about unpleasant deviations in health.