Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a frequently encountered condition in clinical practice. Diagnostic endoscopy and Computed Tomography (CT) are imperative in the evaluation of CRS. The reliability of each of these to predict the operative findings in chronic sinusitis is important. Method: Cross sectional study in which 30 patients of CRS were included. 20 patients needed bilateral surgery. Hence, a total of 50 procedures were done. Results: Diagnostic endoscopy findings correlated very well with the operative findings for all parameters without any false positives or false negatives. Sensitivity of CT was found to be good for almost all the parameters except for anterior ethmoids. The specificity of CT was found to be good for all the parameters except maxillary sinus. Conclusions: Systematic diagnostic endoscopy is the best way forward to evaluate and objectively confirm CRS with CT scan being supplemented only in cases where gross anatomical/ pathological disease restricts visualisation of the disease.

Keywords: Chronic rhinosinusitis; Diagnostic nasal endoscopy; Computed tomography.