Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Jan 28, 2016; 8(1): 98-108
Published online Jan 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i1.98
Evaluation of variations in sinonasal region with computed tomography
Ufuk Dasar, Erkan Gokce
Ufuk Dasar, Erkan Gokce, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Gaziosmanpaşa University, 60100 Tokat, Turkey
Author contributions: Dasar U and Gokce E contributed equally to this work; Dasar U and Gokce E designed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Gaziosmanpaşa University School of Medicine (No. 14-KAEK-100).
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because figures used picture archiving and communication system were studied retrospectively.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Erkan Gokce, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Gaziosmanpaşa University, Kaleardi Quarter, Muhittin Fisunoglu Street, 60100 Tokat, Turkey. erkangokce@mynet.com
Telephone: +90-542-3798986 Fax: +90-362-2309105
Received: July 26, 2015
Peer-review started: July 27, 2015
First decision: September 22, 2015
Revised: October 5, 2015
Accepted: November 24, 2015
Article in press: November 25, 2015
Published online: January 28, 2016
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the frequency of anatomical variations in sinonasal region and association of these variations with mucosal diseases.

METHODS: The study included 400 cases (191 female and 209 male) who were considered to have preliminary diagnoses of sinonasal pathology and who had paranasal sinus computed tomography (CT) examination in axial plane. Reformatted CT images were studied in all planes.

RESULTS: Age range of the patients was 20-83 (mean 40.26 ± 14.85). Most commonly detected anatomical variation was Agger nasi cell (74.8%). There was a significant association between clinoid process pneumatization and protrusion of internal carotid arteries and optic nerves into sphenoid sinus (P < 0.001). Besides, the relationships between pterygoid process pneumatization and protrusion of vidian nerve into sphenoid sinus, and between pneumatization of large sphenoid wing and protrusion of maxillary nerves into sphenoid sinus were also significant (P < 0.001). Uncinate bulla and giant ethmoid bulla were found to be significantly associated with sinonasal mucosal diseases (P = 0.004 and P = 0.002, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Sinonasal region has a great number of variations, and some of them have been determined to be associated with sinonasal mucosal disease. It is necessary to know that some of these variations are associated with protrusion of significant structures such as carotid artery or optic nerve into the sinus and care should be observed in surgeries on patients carrying these variations.

Keywords: Anatomical variations, Paranasal sinuses, Computed tomography, Sinonasal region, Agger nasi cell

Core tip: Currently paranasal sinus computed tomography is routinely used to detect anatomy and pathologies of nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. Sinonasal region has a great number of variations, and some of them have been determined to be associated with sinonasal mucosal disease. It is necessary to know that some of these variations are associated with protrusion of significant structures such as carotid artery, optic nerve, vidian nerve and maxillary nerve into the sphenoid sinus and care should be observed in surgeries on patients carrying these variations.