Is there any relationship between the frontal cell and the Agger nasi cell and the localization of the anterior ethmoid artery?

OBJECTIVES

In this article, we examined the effect of the presence or absence of a frontal cell or an Agger nasi cell on the localization of the anterior ethmoid artery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Coronal paranasal sinus computed tomography scans on 110 sides of 61 patients (35 males, 26 females; mean age 35.6 ± 12.7 years; range 15 to 72 years) who underwent surgery for septal deviation, concha bullosa, antrochoanal polyp between September 2006 and February 2008 were retrospectively evaluated and the anterior ethmoid foramen localization was measured according to the anterior nasal spine. The correlations of these measurements with the presence and absence of a frontal cell and an Agger nasi cell were investigated.

RESULTS

The measurement of the anterior ethmoidal foramen according to anterior nasal spine was 18.2 ± 8.8 mm in the absence of an Agger nasi cell and was 20.3 ± 6.6 mm in the presence of an Agger nasi cell. This distance was measured as 20.0 ± 7.3 mm when the frontal cell was not determined. This measurement was 20.2 ± 6.5 mm in the presence of a frontal cell. According to the frontal cell types the results of the measurements were 20.5 ± 5.9 mm, 18.9 ± 8 mm, 20.6 ± 7.3 mm, for type 1, type 2 and type 3, respectively. Our results revealed that there were no significant relationship between the presence or absence of a frontal cell and an Agger nasi cell and the localization of the anterior ethmoidal foramen.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study showed that the presence or absence of these cells does not affect localization of the anterior ethmoid artery.