Characterization of Maxillary Sinus in Patients With Pain Using Ultrasound

Abstract

This study deals with characterization of maxillary sinus in patients with pain using ultrasound. The objective of this study was to assess the role of ultrasound as another tool in order to attribute detection of maxillary sinuses disorders. It was carried out on 50 patients of the patients referred to the center of ENT Diseases & Head and neck surgery, and have maxillary Sinus problem . The study was conducted from August up to November 2011. The machines used in the study were Aloka SSD 500 portable with curvilinear probe 3.5MHz, Honda HS2000 portable with curvilinear probe 3.5MHz and General ElectricLOGIQ5 Mobile with curvilinear and linear probes (3.5MHz10MHz). The patients were positioned supine and sitting on the examination table, the U/S gel is put in both maxillary antrum sides. They were scanned by a frequency ranging from 3.5 to10 MHz. This study showed that the patients were 27males (54%) and 23 females (46%), their age ranging between ( 20-70 years) and the most affected age group was (20-30years).Also the study showed that all the 50 patients complained of pain (100%) , 28patients complained of halitosis(56%),29patients complained of postnasal drip (58%),30patients complained of stuffy nose (60%),27 patients complained of fever (54%) and 17 patients complained of malaise (34%).

In the sonographic evaluation of this study there were 15 patients (30%) had polyp , 6 patients (12%) had fluid, 1patient (2%) had a cyst , 6 patients (12%) had mucosal thickening , 19 patients (38%) had normal sonographic appearance and 3 patients (6%) had polypoid mucosal thickening. The study showed that ultrasound is beneficial in diagnosis of maxillary sinus pathology & could be used as one of the diagnosis tests as it is easy, available, less expensive and non invasive.