Background: We have previously proposed the use of Doppler ultrasound to non-invasively stage sinus infection,\r\nas we showed that acoustic streaming could be generated in nonpurulent sinus secretions and helped to\r\ndistinguish it from mucopurulent sinus secretions. In order to continue this development of a clinically applicable\r\nDoppler equipment, we need to determine different dimensions of the paranasal sinuses, especially the thickness\r\nof the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus (at the canine fossa). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report\r\non the thickness of the canine fossa. This study aimed to (a) estimate different dimensions of the maxillary and\r\nfrontal sinuses measured on computed tomography (CT) of the head, (b) define cut-off values for the normal\r\nupper and lower limits of the different measured structures, (c) determine differences in age, side and gender,\r\n(d) compare manually and automatically estimated maxillary sinuses volumes, and (e) present incidental findings in\r\nthe paranasal sinuses among the study patients.\r\nMethods: Dimensions of 120 maxillary and frontal sinuses from head CTs were measured independently by two\r\nradiologists.\r\nResults: The mean value of the maxillary sinus volume was 15.7 �± 5.3 cm3 and significantly larger in males than in\r\nfemales (P = 0.004). There was no statistically significant correlation between the volume of maxillary sinuses with\r\nage or side. The mean value of the bone thickness at the canine fossa was 1.1 �± 0.4 mm. The automatically\r\nestimated volume of the maxillary sinuses was 14-17% higher than the calculated volume. There was high\r\ninterobserver agreement with regard to the different measurements performed in this study. Different types of\r\nincidental findings of the paranasal sinuses were found in 35% of the patients.\r\nConclusion: We presented different dimensions of the maxillary and frontal sinuses on CTs. We believe that our\r\ndata are necessary for further development of a clinically applicable Doppler equipment for staging rhinosinusitis.
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