Abstract
Background and Purpose: The purpose of our study was to assess the prevalence of variations in the extent
of sphenoid pneumatization in the Indian population and compare with existing literature.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 500 patients who underwent CT of the paranasal
sinuses. The multiplanar reformations of paranasal sinus were assessed for the type
of pneumatization of the sphenoid sinus and type of clival, lateral recess, lesser
wing, and anterior recess extensions. Results: The conchal, presellar, incomplete sellar, and complete sellar types comprised 0%,
1.2%, 22.2%, and 76.6% of patients. The extensions of pneumatization subtypes in the
study population were clival in 76.6% subjects; lateral recess, lesser wing, and anterior
recess in 59.7%, 20.4%, and 20.4% of sinuses, respectively. The pure forms were seen
in 25.4% and combined forms in 61% of sinuses. The presellar type (1.2%) was less
common and sellar type (98.8%) being common in our population compared to the Caucasian
and East Asian population. The sphenoid sinuses were extensively pneumatized in our
population compared to the Chinese and Caucasian population, the prevalence being
76.6%, 68%, and 44.5% for clival; 59.7%, 46%, and 28.3% for lateral recess; 20.4%,
32%, and 12% for lesser wing extension, respectively. The pure forms were relatively
less common and combined forms being more common compared to the Chinese and Caucasian
population in our study. Conclusion: The extent of pneumatization of the sphenoid sinus has clinical and surgical implications
in sellar and central skull base lesions, and variability in different populations
confirms that ethnicity influences the differences in prevalence.
Keywords
Anatomic variation - cerebrospinal fluid leak; idiopathic intracranial hypertension
- pituitary tumors - sphenoid sinus - transnasal endoscopic surgery
