A CT STUDY OF THE COURSE OF GROWTH OF THE MAXILLARY SINUS - NORMAL SUBJECTS AND SUBJECTS WITH CHRONIC SINUSITIS

We measured the maxillary sinus volume of normal children and those wi th bilateral chronic sinusitis by coronal CT scan of the paranasal sin us, and compared the results with findings previously obtained from ad ult patients. The distribution of mean maxillary sinus volume by age g roup from 4-9 to 70-79 years exhibited a monomodal pattern with a peak in the 20s in both the normal group and the surgical therapy group, T he maxillary sinus volumes of children aged 10-15 years and adults ten ded to be smaller in the surgical therapy group than in the normal gro up; this tendency was more prominent in the adult group. These finding s appear to support the hypothesis that the ethmoid infundibulum and m iddle meatus are narrowed by inflammation of the ostiomeatal complex a nd by various bony anatomic variations in the nasal cavity, leading to impaired pneumatization of the maxillary sinus.