WITHDRAWN: The utilization of paranasal sinus coronal tomography scans as a predictor for the anterior ethmoidal artery course.

Abstract

Background. This study aims to identify radiological features on paranasal sinus coronal tomography images that can guide the surgeon to localize and determine the course of the anterior ethmoidal artery (AEA). These features include the visualization of anterior ethmoidal foramen (AEF) and anterior ethmoidal sulcus (AES) as well as the supraorbital pneumatization (SOP).Methods. This retrospective study includes 182 of the paranasal sinuses coronal tomography (CT) for patients who attended the clinic from Hospital. We excluded the following images from our study: patients younger than twelve years old, patients with a sinus surgery record or trauma, patients with sinus malignancies, congenital anomalies of the face, images with fibro-osseous lesions that impaired the visualization of ethmoid roof, and images with opacified frontal recess region and/or the ethmoidal cells.Results. Both AEF and AES are prominent features on the coronal CT scan that are used to localize the AEA canal and predict its course in the ethmoid labyrinth. It was found that both radiological landmarks are presented in 100% and 93.4 % of our cases; respectively. Moreover, the presence of SOP is significant with the existence of AEA canal on coronal CT scan images. Conclusion.The preoperative evaluation of a coronal CT scan to localize the AEA can be precisely determined by visualization of both the AEF and AES. On the other hand, the presence of SOP is considered a significant sign on the CT scan were AEA can be identified.