Evaluation of articular eminence pneumatization and sphenoid sinus pneumatization relationship on cone-beam computed tomography images

Pneumatization describes the development of air-filled cavities located within the bone. Pneumatized articular eminence (PAE) and glenoid fossa (PGF) are air-filled cavities located in the zygomatic process of the temporal bone. These air-filled cells are effective in determining the spread of infection and the surgical intervention procedure. According to radiographic appearance of PAE, there are unilocular, multilocular type and trabecular variant of multilocular type. The sphenoid sinus is located in the sphenoid bone and adjacent to many anatomical structures. The sphenoid sinus varies extremely in size and pneumatization. Sphenoid sinus pneumatization (SSP) was examined in four groups as conchal, presellar, sellar and postsellar type in the posteroanterior direction, and postsellar type pneumatization was examined in four subgroups as subdorsal, dorsal, occipital, and combined type. When evaluating SSP lateral pneumatization, three types were identified as pterygoid, greater wing of sphenoid, and full lateral (pterygoid and greater wing), also lesser wing and anterior type pneumatizations were examined. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between PAE and/or PGF and SSP, and to evaluate their prevalence in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. In the study, CBCT images of 573 individuals, 170 (29.7%) men, 403 (70.3%) women, aged 16-87 years, who applied to Hacettepe University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology for various reasons between January 2018 and January 2021, were examined. According to the data obtained, the prevalence of PAE and/or PGF was determined as 64.0%. In SSP, postsellar type was the most common with 55.5% and conchal type was the rarest with 1.2%. A significant relationship was found between SSP and PAE and/or PGF (p=0.000). It is thought that this relationship may be due to the tendency of the individual's bone structure to pneumatization.