title: Artifactual thickening of the sinus walls on computed tomography: a phantom model and clinical study.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Sichel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dangoor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eliashar
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gomori
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gul-Aksoy
mesh_terms: 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*