CT STUDY ON MORPHOMETRY OF FRONTAL SINUS

Tatlisumak E, Ovali GY, Asirdizer M, Aslan A, Ozyurt B,

Bayindir P, Tarhan S.

Xth National Anatomy Congress with International Participation. September 6-10,2006, Bodrum - Turkey. Neuroanatomy. 2006; 5 (Suppl. 2): 44.

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ABSTRACT

Frontal sinuses are paired lobulated cavities located posterior to the superciliary arches in the frontal bone and each frontal sinus opens in to the corresponding middle meatus via the infundibulum. They are radiographically visible after 5 years of age and reach their maximum size at the age of 20.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and morphological characteristics of the frontal sinus in an adult population.

This study was conducted retrospectively on the paranasal CT scans of 2 mm thickness in the axial and coronal planes of 300 cases (123 male and 177 female) taken by a Siemens Emotion Tomography Machine. No apparent sinonasal pathology was present in the CT scans used for the study. The mean age of the cases was 40.74± 13.34 (range 20- 83). All evaluations and measurements were done together by two radiologists with a Dicom viewer program.

Measurements of the width, height and antero-posterior length for each sinus and total width were obtained from CT scans. Measurements were compared statistically with relation to side and gender. In addition, cases were divided in to subgroups according to age for each gender and each measurement parameter was also compared among the subgroups.

All measurements tended to be larger in the left side and were significantly larger in males than females. There was a significant difference in antero-posterior length for both sexes and height for males and width for females between the two sides. Regardless of sex, the highest values of measurements were observed at the subgroup of 31-40 age and there was a tendency to decrease with aging.

The size of the frontal sinus is related to side, gender and age.

Key words: frontal sinus, CT Scans, Anatomy.