TABLE 21-1.
Causes of Mucopurulent Rhinorrhea
| Acute | Chronic or Recurrent |
|
|---|---|---|
| Underlying Conditions | Obstructing Lesions | |
| Viral nasopharyngitis | Allergya Medicationsa (antihypertensives, oral estrogens, aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) |
Polyps Congenital nasal anomalies (choanal atresia or stenosis, Tornwaldt cyst, deviated septum) Neuroembryonal mass (dermoid, encephalocele, glioma, teratoma) Tumor (hemangioma, angiofibroma, neurofibroma, lipoma, craniopharyngioma) Neoplasm (lymphoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma) |
| Bacterial sinusitis | ||
| Acute otitis media Streptococcal nasopharyngitis Anaerobic bacterial nasopharyngitis (nasal foreign body) AdenoiditisSyphilis Pertussis | ||
| Pregnancya Hypothyroidisma Rhinitis medicamentosaa (α1-adrenergic agonists) Immunoglobulin deficiency Human immunodeficiency virus infection | ||
| Cystic fibrosis Ciliary dyskinesia |
||
a
Rhinorrhea is characteristically clear, but opaque white discharge is not unusual.