The literature on osteoma of the sinuses consists predominantly of reports of single cases or enumerations of cases reported previously, so that one might suppose the condition to be rare. Although the total number of cases reported up to 1935 was variously given as 1451 and 1472 and may not now exceed 200, since relatively few cases have been reported each year since then, it seems probable that this condition is far more common than is generally supposed and that many osteomas are not reported. The cases in the medical literature have been, as a rule, those in which the growth was extensive, with definite symptoms and with invasion of neighboring structures, in which diagnosis was not difficult and in which the need for treatment was urgent.In support of the thesis that osteoma, although unusual, is not rare, 15 cases in which that diagnosis was made in the past eight years are reported briefly, with illustrations. These 15 cases were noted in a review of 3,510 roentgenograms of the sinuses, of which they comprise 0.43 per cent. Knapp3 noted 8 cases in 56,000 records, or only 0.014 per cent of the total, indicating that in many the condition must not have been diagnosed. In the series of osteomas reported here roentgenograms were entirely responsible for the diagnosis of all except 2.Twelve were in the accessory sinuses and 3 were not.Results of treatment have improved considerably, for in a series of earlier cases the operative mortality was as high as 45 per cent.4 Surgical intervention has been recommended5 as the proper treatment for all osteomas. When one considers that nearly all osteomas which were extensive or had serious complications have probably been recorded and 1. Carmody, T. E.:
Reports of ossification of the auricular cartilage are infrequent.1 I report herein four additional cases.All the patients were elderly men. The general physical examinations revealed nothing except myocarditis in case 2. The patient in case 4 had had syphilis A, roentgenogram of the left ear of patient 1 ; the bone apparently developed from several centers of calcification. A roentgenogram of the right ear showed no bone. B, roentgenogram of the helix of the left ear of patient 2. C, roentgenograms of the ears of patient 3, showing thickened cartilage in the antihelix and the lower scaphoid fossa of each ear; this was of bony hardness. There was a tiny piece of bone in the helix of one ear, and several small pieces of bone were present in the concha of the other. D, roentgenograms of the helix of both ears of patient 4.
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