Volumetric evaluation of the paranasal sinuses in normal subjects using computer tomography images: a stereological study.
OBJECTIVE
The size and shape of paranasal sinuses are especially relevant when considering endoscopic sinus surgery. For this reason, the size of the paranasal sinuses has been the subject of many studies, none of which has used stereological methods to estimate the volume. In the present stereological study, we estimated the volume of paranasal sinuses of normal males and females.


METHODS
We used a combination of the Cavalieri principle and computer tomography scans taken from 39 male and 38 female patients to estimate the volumes of frontal, maxillary, ethmoidal and sphenoidal sinuses.


RESULTS
The mean volumes of frontal, maxillary, ethmoidal and sphenoidal sinuses were estimated bilaterally, producing mean volumes of 11.6+/-0.8, 35.9+/-1.3, 11.8+/-0.4 and 13.6+/-0.7 cm(3), respectively. When the correlations between estimated volumes were analyzed statistically a positive relation was found for the paranasal sinuses. The size of the sinuses tends to decrease with age.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of the present study using the stereological methods could provide data for the evaluation of normal and pathological volumes of the paranasal sinuses.
Emirzeoglu
Mehmet
M
Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Samsun, Turkey.
Sahin
Bunyamin
B
Bilgic
Sait
S
Celebi
Mehmet
M
Uzun
Ahmet
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010256:Paranasal Sinuses / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed