Evaluation of the prevalence of accidental findings in maxillary sinus in the CBCT archives of Isfahan Faculty of Dentistry

The prevalence of accidental findings in maxillary sinus has been reported to be 23.6‒44%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of accidental findings in maxillary sinus in the CBCT archives of Isfahan Faculty of Dentistry. In this retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study 100 CBCT images in which the 4 walls of the maxillary sinus were visible, in patients over 12 years of age, were selected. All the samples were evaluated by an oral and maxillofacial radiology resident in relation to mucosal thickening, cysts and septa using a computer with uniform resolution and light intensity from 8 to 10 in the morning. The lesions were divided into unilateral and bilateral depending on their location. Data were analyzed with SPSS 20 using descriptive methods, chi-squared test and t-test (α=0.05). Of 100 patients evaluated, 76% had accidental findings in at least one sinus and only 24% had no accidental finding. Mucosal thickening was the most common accidental finding (63%), followed by cysts (41%) and septa (18%). Chi-squared test showed no significant differences between males and females in the frequencies of mucosal thickening, cysts and septa (p values = 0.584, 0.172 and 0.71, respectively). One-way ANOVA showed no significant relations between age and the prevalence of mucosal thickening, cysts and septa (p values = 0.949, 0.755 and 0.606, respectively). Mucosal thickening was the most common accidental finding in the maxillary sinus, followed by cysts and septa, respectively. Age and sex had no effect on the occurrence of maxillary sinus lesions.