Artifactual thickening of the sinus walls on computed tomography: a phantom model and clinical study.
Measuring sinus wall thickness on computed tomography may be important for distinguishing between acute and chronic inflammation of the paranasal sinuses or in cases of a suspected neoplasm. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of opacified and aerated sinuses on the appearance of sinus wall thickness. A phantom model consisting of a skull half-immersed in water was scanned, and various slice thicknesses and different windows were used. The sinus walls of the water-immersed side appeared to be thicker than those of the aerated side. Bone windows did not completely eliminate this partial volume effect. It was concluded that comparison between a fluid- or tissue-filled sinus and an air-filled counterpart is not accurate enough for evaluating sinus wall thickness. Bone windows do not completely eliminate the artifactual thickening of the bony wall of a filled sinus.
Sichel
J Y
JY
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
Dangoor
E
E
Eliashar
R
R
Aksoy
F G
FG
Dano
I
I
Gomori
M
M
Gul-Aksoy
F
F
D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D010256:Paranasal Sinuses / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*