Sphenoid sinus septations: unpredictable anatomic landmarks in endoscopic pituitary surgery.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to determine whether sphenoid sinus septations could be used as predictable landmarks to identify the internal carotid artery prominence.

METHODS

Fifty-six preoperative, high-resolution computed tomographic scans were identified between January 2007 and December 2009 on patients undergoing endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary tumour resection. The number and termination locations of sphenoid sinus septations were noted, and their relationship to the internal carotid artery prominence was studied.

RESULTS

In this series, each sphenoid sinus contained a mean of 1.57 septations. We analyzed 88 sphenoid sinus septations and found only 17% inserting at either internal carotid artery prominence.

CONCLUSION

In our study, the presence of sphenoid sinus septations could not be reliably used as a surgical landmark to predict the location of the internal carotid artery. Our article stands in contrast to other literature on this topic.