Morphometric and Volumetric Measurements of the Paranasal Sinuses among the population of the Bareilly region

Abstract

Background: In the field of sinus surgery and anatomy, the size and shape of the paranasal sinuses vary widely. The volume of paranasal sinuses offers more accurate values and closest to their natural measurements and contributes to diagnosing sinus pathologies. Present study was aimed to evaluate the morphometric relationship between right and left side sinuses and measured the volumetric changes in these sinuses according to the age and gender of the patients. Materials and Methods: The morphometric and volumetric measurement of the paranasal sinuses were carried out with the help of CT scans in 300 patients (163 male and 137 female) considered to have a preliminary diagnosis of paranasal pathology, and direct coronal sections imaging was performed in all patients. In addition, limited axial scans parallel to the orbitomeatal line with the patients in the supine position were carried out whenever required. Reformatted CT images were also studied in all planes. Results: The mean volumes of frontal sinus was 8.3 ± 5.7 cm3, mean volumes of the maxillary sinus was 18.5 ± 6.4 cm3, mean volumes of the ethmoidal sinus was 7.1 ± 4.2 cm3and sphenoid sinus measured as 6.9 ± 4.5 cm3 volume respectively. The gender-wise comparison of volumes of paranasal sinuses was statistically significant (P < 0.05). However, the average volume of paranasal sinuses in elderly patients shown a gradual decrease. Conclusions: The morphometric and volumetric analysis of the paranasal sinuses is, highly variable and dependent on many other structures and probably always will be challenging.The uniqueness of this research study was that the volumetric measurement anatomical changes of the paranasal sinuses could be compared in the direction of the advancing age.