Certain morphometric characteristics of the normal maxillary sinus

Maxillary sinus is more than any other paranasal sinuses amenable to various pathological conditions that may require the surgical treatment. The objective of the present work was to study the age-related and the individual specific anatomical features of the walls of the maxillary sinus and to develop the principles of sinus surgery based on the results of the anthropometric studies. We analyzed the cone-beam CT scans obtained from 586 patients at the age varying from 5 to 60 years who were allocated to six different groups. The measurement of different anthropometric indicators of the maxillary sinus was undertaken. The study has demonstrated the feasibility of using boron as a means to obtain the access to the maxillary sinus for the purpose of the external surgical intervention. The maxillary sinuses having the thickness of the anterolateral wall of more than 1.5 mm most frequently occurred in the patients under 12 years of age. The surgical access to the maxillary sinus through the lower nasal passage having the medial wall thickness greater than 1 mm proved to be limited; this feature was found to be characteristic of the patients at the age below 12 years. It is shown that the depth of the lower lateral wall in the nasal passage did not depend on the age of the patients; the same was true of the angle formed between this wall and the bottom of the nose. Taken together, the obtuse angle (more than 100°) and the depth of the lateral wall of the inferior nasal meatus of more than 5 mm facilitated the surgical access to the maxillary sinus through the inferior meatus.