The incidence of anatomic variations and sinus opacities in pediatric patients with chronic sinonasal symptoms.

Objectives: In this study, our purpose was to determine the incidence of paranasal sinus anatomic variations and their relationship with sinus opacities in pediatric patients.

Patients And Methods: A total of 44 children (age range 3 to 16 years) unresponsive to maximum medical therapy were evaluated with coronal paranasal sinus computed tomography.

Results: Computed tomographic evaluations revealed that 70.5% (31/44) of the patients had at least one anatomic variation, the most common being septal deviation, followed by concha bullosa and agger nasi cells. Sinus opacities were found in 81.8% (36/44) of the patients, of whom 9 had single and 27 had multiple involvement of sinus groups. The most commonly involved sinuses were anterior ethmoids and maxillary sinuses, followed by posterior ethmoids, sphenoid and frontal sinuses. Patients with single, multiple, and no anatomic variations had 78.9% (15/19), 83.3% (10/12), and 84.6% (11/13) opacities, respectively.

Conclusion: The incidence of anatomic variations was found to be similar to that reported for adults in the literature except for nasal septal deformity which was found lower. Our results showed no correlation between bony anatomic variations and sinus opacities in children.