Sinonasal anatomic variations and relationship with sinonasal inflammatory mucosal disease: a computed tomography study

Objective: To evaluate sinonasal anatomic variations on the paranasal computed tomography (CT) scans and to investigate association with sinonasal inflammatory mucosal disease. Materials and Methods: Between January 2019 and December 2019, paranasal CT scans of 279 adult patients were retrospectively analyzed. Patients data were obtained from medical and imaging records. On CT examinations, each anatomic variation was evaluated with respect to side and bilaterality. We investigated statistically coexistence between anatomic variations and presence of sinonasal inflammatory mucosal disease. Results: Our results showed high prevalence of sinonasal anatomic variations. The most common anatomic variation was nasal septal deviation (65.2 %), followed by concha bullosa (41.6 %)and septal spur (28.7 %). We found a statistically significant relationship between concha bullosa and sinonasal inflammatory mucosal disease (p=0.009) which was observed especially in bulbous (p=0.048) and extensive types(p=0.017). No significant association was noted with the other anatomic variations. Conclusion: Concha bullosa, particularly bulbous and extensive types have a tendency to cause sinonasal inflammatory mucosal disease. Key words: Sinonasal cavity, anatomic variation, computed tomography, mucosal disease, rhinosinusitis