Double-Blind Trial Of Doxicycline In Acute Maxillary Sinusitis: A Clinical And Bacteriological Study

Abstract

Sixty-one patients, 39 females and 22 males, with bacterial and sterile acute maxillary sinusitis were subjected to study in order to decide whether or not an oral antibiotic is necessary in the treatment of this condition when it is administered simultaneously with irrigation and nose drops. Using a double-blind method, one group of patients were given doxicycline and one group a placebo. Changes in secretion were followed macroscopically and changes in the ostial patency, rhinomanometrically. Significant differences between the recovery time of patients belonging to the doxicycline and placebo groups were not observed, neither did the sensitivity of bacteria from the secretion to doxicycline correlate with the speed of recovery in either group. The results do not indicate that recovery time in acute maxillary sinusitis can be shortened with oral administration of doxicycline.