Can Volumetric and Morphological Variants of Sphenoid Sinuses Influence Sinuses Opacification?

Assessment of Anatomical Uniqueness of Maxillary Sinuses through 3D-3D Superimposition: An Additional Help to Personal Identification

Paranasal sinuses represent one of the most individualizing structures of the human body and some of them have been already analyzed for possible applications to personal identification, such as the frontal and sphenoid sinuses. This study explores the application of 3D-3D superimposition to maxillary sinuses in personal identification. One hundred head CT-scans of adult subjects (equally divided among males and females) were extracted from a hospital database. Maxillary sinuses were segmented twice from each subject through ITK-SNAP software and the correspondent 3D models were automatically superimposed to obtain 100 matches (when they belonged to the same person) and 100 mismatches (when they were extracted from different individuals), both from the right and left side. Average RMS (root mean square) point-to-point distance was then calculated for all the superimpositions; differences according to sex, side, and group (matches and mismatches) were assessed through three-way ANOVA test (p < 0.017). On average, RMS values were lower in matches (0.26 ± 0.19 mm in males, 0.24 ± 0.18 mm in females) than in mismatches (2.44 ± 0.87 mm in males, 2.20 ± 0.73 mm in females) with a significant difference (p < 0.001). No significant differences were found according to sex or side (p > 0.017). The study verified the potential of maxillary sinuses as reliable anatomical structures for personal identification in the forensic context.

Correlation Between Anatomic Variations of Sphenoid Sinuses and Pituitary Adenoma

BACKGROUND

Many persons have studied relationship between anatomic variations (AVs) of sphenoid sinuses (SS) and paranasal disease, but no research has been done to reveal the correlation between AVs of SS and sellar region lesions.

OBJECTIVE

To compare AVs of SS between sellar region lesions and healthy persons and analyze factors affecting the volume of SS and explore the correlation between AVs of SS and pituitary adenomas (PAs).

METHODS

Clinical data of 53 PAs as experiment group and 30 healthy persons as control team was reviewed. Computed tomography images of SS performed at Tianjin Huanhu Hospital were studied. The AVs of SS including degree of pneumatization, type of intersinus septum (IS), and volume of SS were evaluated by ITK-SNAP software.

RESULTS

Age, gender, degree of pneumatization, and type of IS had no significant difference between groups, while the volume of SS in experiment group was smaller than that in control group (P < 0.05). The volume of SS was associated with age, sex, degree of pneumatization, type of IS in control group, and degree of pneumatization, type of IS in experiment group. In experiment group, patients with postoperative pathological examination ki67 ≥ 3% had bigger volume and higher recurrent rate (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Visualizing different orientations and 3D model of SS is conducive to the success of trans-sphenoid surgery. Pituitary adenomas can deform the SS leading to smaller volume. The volume of SS can be a factor used to predict the outcome of PAs.

Morphometric characteristics of the sphenoid sinus and potential influencing factors: a retrospective assessment using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)

The present study aimed to evaluate the morphological characteristics of the sphenoid sinus (SS), and the impact of potential influencing factors on the morphometric features using CBCT imaging. CBCT scans of 148 patients, aged between 15 and 85 (32.88 ± 15.33) years were retrospectively evaluated. DICOM files from the CBCT scans were imported into semi-automatic software and the SS of each patient was assessed for the morphological characteristics including configuration, symmetry, extension, shape, septation, volume, and maximum diameter. Furthermore, potential influencing factors such as age, gender, side, and sinus condition were analysed. A significant association was observed between sinus extension and age. Septation was also found to be significantly associated with age, gender and sinus condition. Besides, sinus volume was significantly associated with gender and sinus condition. No significant influence of shape and side on the morphometric features was noticed. The average volume and diameter of the SS were 6576.92 ± 3748.12 mm³ and 30.48 ± 9.28 mm, respectively. In conclusion, the present findings indicate that age, gender and sinus condition have a significant impact on the morphometric characteristics of the SS. Mature sinuses exhibit a post-sellar extension pattern until middle age. In addition, males, and sinuses with healthy sinus condition have larger volumes compared to females and pathological sinuses.

Segmentation procedures for the assessment of paranasal sinuses volumes

BACKGROUND

The paranasal sinuses are complex anatomical structures, characterised by highly variable shape, morphology and size. With the introduction of multidetector scanners and the development of many post-processing possibilities, computed tomography became the gold standard technique to image the paranasal sinuses. Segmentation allows the extraction of metrical and shape data of these anatomical components that can be applied for diagnostic, education, surgical planning and simulation, and to plan minimally invasive interventions in otorhinolaryngology and neurosurgery.

DISCUSSION

Our aim was to provide a review of the existing literature on segmentation, its types and application, and the data obtained from this procedure. The literature search was conducted on PubMed (including Medline), ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases, using the keywords as follows: 'paranasal sinuses', 'frontal sinus', 'maxillary sinus', 'sphenoid sinus', 'ethmoid sinus', in all possible combinations with the keywords 'segmentation' and 'volumetric analysis'. Inclusion criteria were: articles written in English, on living human subjects, on the adult population and focused on paranasal sinuses analysis.

CONCLUSION

This article provides an overview of the types and main application of segmentation procedures on paranasal sinuses, and the results provided by the studies on this topic.