Evaluation of Posterior Frontal Recess Cells with Cone- Beam Computerised
Tomography
Introduction and objectives: Frontal recess is the anatomical region most difficult to
manage in functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) due to the extreme variability
of the cell patterns that may be observed in this area. This space may be pneumatized
by various cells classified into 3 groups based upon their locations in the frontal recess.
The posterior group includes frontal bullar cells (FBC), suprabullar cells (SBC), and
supraorbital ethmoid cells (SOEC); whose superior/posterior boundary is the skull
base, whereas their anterior/inferior boundary is a free partition within the frontal
recess. The third group is consists of interfrontal sinus septal cell (IFSSC), which
located in the medial frontal recess. The purpose of this study is to determine the
frequency of occurrence and posterior cells and IFSSC by using CBCT in a group of
Turkish patients.
Methods: Subjects for this retrospective study consist of all 300 patients who visited
the department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology at Dentistry Faculty and 300 cone
beam CT examinations were picked up from the PACS system. An oral and
maxillofacial radiologist (MOB) evaluated and interpreted posterior group of frontal
recess cells and IFSSC. The recognition of cells were made according to literature that
were already described by means of multi-planar CT images.
Results and Discussion: There was no statistically significant difference on the right
side and the left side of the frontobullar and supraorbital cell incidence according to
gender. While there was no statistically significant difference on the right side of the
suprabullar cell incidence according to gender, suprabullar cell incidence on the left
side in women (38%) was statistically significantly higher than men (26%). IFSSC
incidence was statistically significantly higher in men (11.3%) than women (2.7%).
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that CBCT can be used in the analysis
of frontal recess.