Frontal sinus fractures: a review of 72 cases.
A retrospective review is presented of 72 patients who sustained frontal sinus fractures (FSF) and were subsequently treated by the department of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery between the years of 1974 and 1986. Eighty-four percent of FSF occurred in males and 71% were a result of motor vehicle accidents. Only 24% remained conscious at the time of trauma, and in only one third of the cases was there no other fracture. Seventy-six percent of FSF involved both the anterior and posterior walls--a figure that possibly reflects the referral patterns to a hospital that is a major regional trauma center. Patients were treated with a variety of procedures including cranialization (42%), osteoplastic flap and fat obliteration (30%), open reduction and internal fixation of the anterior wall (20%), osteoplastic flap and sinus ablation (6%), and intersinus septectomy (1%). Some difficulty was encountered in documenting sustained follow-up, which ranged from 2 months to 9 years, and averaged 22 months. Nine percent of patients died in the post-trauma period. Minor complications were relatively common, but major complications occurred in only 10% of patients. Four patients (6%) suffered meningitis (although the portal of infection was not necessarily through the frontal sinus); one patient (1%) suffered severe pain over the sinus and forehead for at least 12 months after surgery; and a mucocele developed in four patients (6%).
Wallis
A
A
Department of Otolaryngology, University of California-Davis, Sacramento 95817.
Donald
P J
PJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005626:Frontal Sinus / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*