J Rhinol.
2001 May;8(1, 2):29-33.
Benign Diseases Widening the Unilateral Ethmoidal Infundibulum: Clinical and Radiological Characteristics
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Otolaryngology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea. FESS@samsung.co.kr
Abstract
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The ethmoidal infundibulum is a cleft-like space situated like a funnel before the maxillary ostium. In this cleft, unilateral inflammations and benign diseases occur sometimes. In this study, we are trying to evaluate benign diseases widening the unilateral ethmoidal infundibulum and their chief complaints, and to identify the radiologic patterns of them in contrast-enhanced computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Sixty eight cases with unilateral ethmoidal infundibular widening on contrast enhanced CT were evaluated with MRI between Jan, 1995 and Dec, 1999. Fifty- six cases of pathologically proved inflammatory or benign diseases were analyzed prospectively by medical records, CT and MRI.
RESULTS
Benign diseases widening the unilateral ethmoidal infundibulum included antrochoanal polyp, maxillary sinus mucocele, prolapsed antral mucosa (a variant of maxillary sinus mucocele), noninvasive fungal sinusitis, nasal polyp with sinusitis and inverted papilloma. They showed soft tissue density in the unilateral maxillary sinus and infundibulum with uncinate process erosion on CT. They were differentiated by the signal intensity on T2 weighted MRI and enhancement patterns on T1 weighted MRI.
CONCLUSION
The preoperative diagnosis of benign diseases widening the unilateral ethmoidal infundibulum depends on endoscopic biopsy generally, but MR imaging may be helpful for differential diagnosis of them.
