Retromaxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus: an overlooked recess

Mohammad Waheed El-Anwar,Rania Mostafa Almolla,Ahmed Abdel Fattah Nofal,Tamer Abdelkader Oraby,Ahmed Abdelatty Ibrahim,Diaa Bakry Eldeeb

doi:10.1186/s43163-021-00183-w

Mohammad Waheed El-Anwar, Rania Mostafa Almolla + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s43163-021-00183-w

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Abstract

BackgroundRetro-maxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus is an area that is yet to have appropriate description in the literature and usually overlooked. The objective of the current study was to determine the incidence and detailed description of the retromaxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus by multi-slices computed tomography (MSCT) in adults. Paranasal MSCT scan of asymptomatic adults was done for all our subjects to obtain delicate anatomical details of the recess using coronal, axial, and sagittal reformatted capability. Each sphenoid sinus in the CT was revised to find and describe the retro-maxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus regarding its extensions and dimensions.ResultsThis study included 100 adult subjects (200 sphenoid sinuses); retro-maxillary recess was detected in 16.5% (33 sides) of them using MSCT. They were distributed in 20 subjects (20% of all examined sphenoid sinuses). Sixty-five percent of reported recesses were bilateral. Range of antero-posterior diameter (depth) of the recess was 3.9 to 14 mm while its width range was 1.1 to 9 mm. The thickness of the bony septum between the recess and the maxillary sinus ranged from 0.2 to 3.2 mm.ConclusionCurrent work described in details the retromaxillary recess in CT and its nearby surrounding important structures in all directions. From our results, it is recommended to add the retromaxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus to the preoperative CT checklist particularly in revision cases.

Highlights

Retro-maxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus is an area that is yet to have appropriate description in the literature and usually overlooked
We conducted a retrospective analysis of paranasal sinus (PNS) multislice computed tomography (MSCT) scans that were obtained for adult patients as a part of evaluation of their sinonasal or anatomically related disorders
Retromaxilary recess of the sphenoid sinus is rarely and poorly described in the literatures to the extent that it was described at 2009 as a case report by Ciobanu et al [9]. This recess was not mentioned in most studies that focus on the sphenoid sinus [8, 10, 11] even in the literature review on the anatomical variations of the sphenoid sinus [12]. Because this retromaxilary recess of the sphenoid sinus has received poor attention and limited undetailed citations [3, 4, 13, 14] in the rhinologic literature as compared with other anatomic variations, in current work, we focused on CT description of such overlooked area

Summary

Introduction

Retro-maxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus is an area that is yet to have appropriate description in the literature and usually overlooked. Literature are rich with endoscopic, radiologic, and anatomic studies that provide surgeons with better orientation during ESS [1–4]. Despite these anatomic descriptions, residual disease after ESS continues to occur and is not uncommon [5–7]. Retromaxillary pneumatization of sphenoid sinus (SS) is yet an endoscopically important area that seems to be poorly recognized and so frequently missed during ESS, for residents and surgeons with less experience. We have conducted this work to describe this retromaxillary recess of the sphenoid sinus to provide detailed knowledge and increase surgeon and radiologist orientation of this less overlooked area to investigate its importance

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