Publication:

The role of diagnostic imaging in evaluation of nasal and paranasal sinus pathologies

Background The objective of the study was to evaluate the role of radiological imaging in correlation with clinical finding in assessing the severity of nasal and paranasal diseases and in differentiating benign pathologies from malignant sinonasal masses.

Methods In this study 50 patients with complaints of nasal obstruction , nasal discharge, epistaxis were subjected to detailed clinical examination and evaluated radio logically with X ray PNS, CT and MRI of PNS and biopsy taken from nasal and paranasal masses for histopathological confirmation.

Results The main presenting complaints were nasal obstruction (82%) followed by nasal discharge (66%), headache and allergic symptoms (52%). The most common type of disease involving nose and paranasal sinuses was inflammatory disease (86%), followed by benign disease (10%) and malignant disease were found in (4%) of cases. The most common benign disease involving nose and paranasal sinuses were inverted papilloma (80%), followed by hemangioma of nasal septum (20%). The most common radiological pattern of sinus involvement is osteomeatal type seen in 38% of cases, followed by unclassified pattern in 23.8%.Maxillary sinuses were most commonly involved in the study 82% cases.

Conclusions CT is the modality of choice in imaging the paranasal sinuses for evaluating the chronic diseases and associated complication and provides a reliable pre-operative road map. MR imaging plays a critical role in evaluation of sino nasal tumors.