Incidence of Maxillary Sinus Pathology Diagnosed by CBCT: A Retrospective Observational Study on the Mississippi University Institution

Abstract

Background: The European position paper on rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps (EPOS) defines sinusitis or rhinosinusitis as a disease characterized by acute or chronic inflammation of one or more paranasal sinuses. Acute rhinosinusitis has a yearly prevalence of 6-15%, while chronic sinusitis in Europe is 10.9%.

Objective: The main objective is to determine the incidence of maxillary sinus pathology. Secondary objectives were to determine the frequency according to the type of pathology and analyze the relationship with gender and age.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out on patients who underwent maxillary cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). The demographic information of the patients was recorded, considering sex, age, maxillary sinus studied and the classification according to Di Girolamo.

Results: The analyzed sample consists of 226 CBCTs. Some type of sinus pathology was observed in 130 cases (58%) and no pathology in 96 cases (42%). The most frequently found pathology was thickening of the sinus mucosa (23%), followed by sinus opacity (17%) and dental pathologies (11%) and the presence of cysts and tumors (8%).

Conclusions: There is a high incidence of sinus pathology. It is more frequent in men between 41 and 50-years-old. The most common types of pathology are thickening of the membrane and opacification. No differences were observed between the types of sinus pathology with respect to gender or age.