Comparison of different methods of analysis of maxillary sinus volume and validation of a new proposal using cone beam computed tomography.

Purpose: develop and validate a formula, through a discriminant analysis of sex estimation, evaluating maxillary sinus in cone beam computed tomography scans in a Brazilian population, comparing this formula with two other existing ones.

Methods: 190 cone beam CT scans of Brazilian adults were retrospectively evaluated by an independent examiner. Measurements were performed in the right and left MS region: height, width, length, distance between the breasts, distance between infraorbital foramina, and volume in the ITK software. The sample was divided into female and male. T test, ANOVA, Tukey test and the ROC Curve was performed (p > 0,05).

Results: statistically significant differences were found in relation to the maximum height of the MS both right (p = 0,001) and left (p = 0,026) between sexes and the maximum length in the right MS (p = 0,01). Regarding the comparison of MS volume according to the different analysis methods, statistically significant differences were found between sexes for the right MS when using the method by Bangi et al. (p = 0,012) and the volume of the left MS in females (p < 0,001). Comparing the three classification models, statistically significant differences were found between the proposed method and the classification by Bangi et al. (p < 0.007). The ROC curve showed greater accuracy in the classification proposed in this work.

Conclusion: the new proposed formula obtained better predictions of sexual dimorphism, when compared to classifications already described in the literature.