Anatomical Variations of Sphenoid Sinus in Patients with Sino-Nasal Complaints– A Study based on CT Scan

Sphenoid Sinus in Patients with Sino-Nasal Complaints

Abstract

Background: Sphenoid sinus is variably pneumatized and may show septations. There are some very important structures present in its relation like optic nerve and internal carotid artery. So, it becomes important to know the patterns of variations in pneumatization and septation of the sinus so as to avoid any inadvertent injury to these structures during Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgeries. The Aim is to determine the anatomical variations of sphenoid sinus on CT scan. Subjects and Methods: It was a retrospectively done descriptive observational study carried out on 150 patients that presented with various sino-nasal complaints and underwent CT Scan in the Department of Radiodiagnosis, Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata. Their CT scans were studied for the presence of Sphenoid sinus Pneumatization and Sphenoid sinus Septation. The data on radiological variations were summarized by routine descriptive statistics namely counts and percentages for categorical variables. Result: In 86% of the radiographs, sellar type of pneumatization was found followed by pre-sellar type (8%) and post sellar type (6.6%). Sphenoid sinus Septation was found as single septum in 82% and multiple septum in 18% cases. There was no statistically significant difference between males and females according as evident by the p value of 0.879 for sphenoid sinus pneumatization and 0.833 for sphenoid sinus septation. Conclusion: The sellar type of pneumatization was found to be most common in the present study. Awareness of these variations will help the surgeon in his orientation during endoscopic sinus surgeries to avoid inadvertent injury.