Noninvasive allergic sinus congestion and resolution assessments using microcomputed tomography imaging

Evaluation of maxillary sinus pathologies and the posterior superior alveolar artery canal using cone-beam computed tomography

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to determine the anatomical relationship between the posterior superior alveolar artery (PSAA) and the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus during preoperative radiological evaluations in the posterior maxillary dental region, as well as to evaluate the prevalence of PSAA and its potential associations with sinus pathologies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This retrospective study is based on the analysis of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) data from 510 sinuses of 255 patients. The visibility of the PSAA vascular canal, artery diameters, vertical distance between the alveolar crest and the artery, and the distance to the sinus floor were measured in coronal sections. Additionally, the relationships between sinus pathologies and septa within the sinuses and the PSAA were evaluated.

RESULTS

PSAA was detected bilaterally in the majority of patients (70.2%). Sinus pathologies and the presence of septa were also examined, revealing that 36.9% of the sinus pathologies were bilateral. Chi-square analyses showed no statistically significant relationship between gender and the presence of PSAA. Female patients had a higher incidence of sinus pathologies compared to males (p = 0.002). No significant relationship was found between the presence of PSAA and septa.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of considering the anatomical position and prevalence of the PSAA during preoperative radiological evaluations in the posterior maxillary region. This study identified the PSAA as predominantly located in the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus, an anatomical feature of critical importance during preoperative radiological evaluations to minimize vascular complications.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

Not applicable.

Possibilities of Automated Diagnostics of Odontogenic Sinusitis According to the Computer Tomography Data

Individual anatomical features of the paranasal sinuses and dentoalveolar system, the complexity of physiological and pathophysiological processes in this area, and the absence of actual standards of the norm and typical pathologies lead to the fact that differential diagnosis and assessment of the severity of the course of odontogenic sinusitis significantly depend on the measurement methods of significant indicators and have significant variability. Therefore, an urgent task is to expand the diagnostic capabilities of existing research methods, study the significance of the measured indicators, and substantiate the expediency of their use in the diagnosis of specific pathologies in an automated mode. Methods of digital filtering, image segmentation and analysis, fluid dynamics, and statistical and discriminant analysis were used. Preliminary differential diagnosis of odontogenic sinusitis can be performed by densitemetric analysis of tomographic images of the maxillary sinuses, performed using frontal multiplanar reconstructions according to a given algorithm. The very manifestation of the characteristic changes in the densitography of the maxillary sinus allows for the initiation of certain pathological processes and permits the development of the effectiveness of the diagnosis of the pathology of the sinus sinuses, which can be realized automatically in real life.