Correlation Between Anatomic Variations of Sphenoid Sinuses and Pituitary Adenoma.

BACKGROUND Many persons have studied relationship between anatomic variations (AVs) of sphenoid sinuses (SS) and paranasal disease, but no research has been done to reveal the correlation between AVs of SS and sellar region lesions. OBJECTIVE To compare AVs of SS between sellar region lesions and healthy persons and analyze factors affecting the volume of SS and explore the correlation between AVs of SS and pituitary adenomas (PAs). METHODS Clinical data of 53 PAs as experiment group and 30 healthy persons as control team was reviewed. Computed tomography images of SS performed at Tianjin Huanhu Hospital were studied. The AVs of SS including degree of pneumatization, type of intersinus septum (IS), and volume of SS were evaluated by ITK-SNAP software. RESULTS Age, gender, degree of pneumatization, and type of IS had no significant difference between groups, while the volume of SS in experiment group was smaller than that in control group (P < 0.05). The volume of SS was associated with age, sex, degree of pneumatization, type of IS in control group, and degree of pneumatization, type of IS in experiment group. In experiment group, patients with postoperative pathological examination ki67 ≥ 3% had bigger volume and higher recurrent rate (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Visualizing different orientations and 3D model of SS is conducive to the success of trans-sphenoid surgery. Pituitary adenomas can deform the SS leading to smaller volume. The volume of SS can be a factor used to predict the outcome of PAs.