Radio-anatomical observation of volume, anterior wall thickness and pneumatisation pattern of frontal sinus

Abstract

Introduction: Frontal sinus occupies anatomically vital position in the cranium. Variations in dimension of the sinus between sides, gender were available. The functional role of the sinus was much debated in literature. Occurrence of frontal bone fracture in a significant proportion of facial trauma necessitates the study of anatomical structural and dimensional parameters of frontal sinus.

Materials and Methods: Computerised tomography of 119 paranasal images were finally studied after excluding paediatric, pathological and trauma cases. In axial and sagittal planes antero-posterior (AP), width, height, anterior wall thickness at orbital roof level were measured. Volume of sinus computed for both sides using AP x width x height x 0.52. Independent “t” test and person’s correlation coefficient were used for analysis statistically.

Result: The Mean AP, width and height were found to be 20.46 mm, 26.92 mm, 24.29 mm respectively. The mean volume of frontal sinus was 6.4 ± 3.4 cm3, 7.6 ± 3.6 cm3 on the right and left side respectively and showed significant difference between sides. The mean anterior wall thickness was 2.5 ± 0.8mm on right and 2.7 ± 0.8 mm on left side of frontal sinus with significant difference (p<0.05). Corelation between volume and anterior wall thickness was found to be weakly positive. Bilateral agenesis/aplasia was seen in 12.61% and unilateral agenesis/aplasia was observed in 19.32% with male predominance.

Conclusion: The width, anterior wall thickness and volume of frontal sinus showed statistically significance difference between sides. Weakly positive correlation was found between volume and anterior wall thickness. Aplasia was observed more in prevalence with male preponderance.