Figure 1. Biofilm formation in bacteria obtained from endoscopically guided sinonasal cultures, following sham or tobacco smoke exposure.

Samples from patients evaluated in the outpatient clinic or in the operating room, who were found to have sinonasal mucopurulence were cultured. Samples were grown overnight and subjected to evaluation for biofilm forming capacity. A three hour tobacco smoke exposure (resultant from five cigarettes). Each isolate was performed in octuplet. A paired Student t-test was applied to compare smoke and sham exposed (* = p<0.01).