Para Nasal Sinuses are Pneumatized in a Synchronized Pattern, a Study Evaluating Volume of the Maxillary and Sphenoid Sinuses using Cone Beam Computed Tomography

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The volume of the paranasal sinuses,especially maxillary sinuses is a crucial factor for diagnosingmaxillofacial pathologies, dental implant planning, surgeriesinvolving maxillofacial region etc. Study was done with theobjective to determine the volume of maxillary and sphenoidsinus and to evaluate its correlation with pneumatizationbetween them using cone beam computerized tomography(CBCT)Material and methods: This cross-sectional study wasconducted as a retrospective evaluation of CBCT images of 50maxillary and sphenoid sinuses from patients who reported tothe maxillofacial radiology department of college of dentistry,qassim university, saudi Arabia. The differences amonggender, age, individual volume and volume pattern of the boththe sinuses were statistically analyzed.Results: The mean volume of the maxillary sinus was 10.0cm3 and mean volume of the sphenoid sinus was 8.6 cm3. Thecomparison of the mean volumes of maxillary sinuses andsphenoid sinuses showed a statistically significant correlation.The correlation coefficient shows the value of r = 0.58with a significance of 0.000. The relationship of volume ofthe maxillary sinus and sphenoid sinuses was found highlysignificant. There appears to be a synchronized variation in thevolumes during different age groups.Conclusion: The synchronized display of the pneumatizationpattern of the para-nasal sinuses may be attributable to aconjoint assigning impact on the spatial organization in theentire skeletal ossification and pneumatization.