ABSTRACT
An accurate definition of nosocomial infection identifies ‘‘nosocomial’’ as a disease or symptom initiated during a period of hospital care and under different states of bacterial presence (1). As such, it describes the two dimensions that together are part of the working definition of the concept of nosocomial sinusitis. Of the two particular kinds of sinusitis included in this chapter, however, only one is a ‘‘true’’ nosocomial sinusitis according to the definition above, and this is the sinusitis of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) that is related to mechanical ventilation. On the other hand, post-sinus surgery refractory sinusitis, which is considered in the last paragraph of the Introduction section, is not truly a nosocomial sinusitis. Under each subheading, ventilator-associated sinusitis will be dealt with first, followed by post-sinus surgery sinusitis.
