Frontal Sinus Volume in Normocephalic Nonsyndromic Sagittal Craniosynostosis: A Comparative Study.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate frontal sinus volume as a potential indicator of cranial compensatory growth in unoperated normocephalic nonsyndromic sagittal craniosynostosis (NNSC) patients compared with age-matched and sex-matched controls. Previous studies have suggested that frontal sinus volume is suppressed in unoperated craniosynostosis and may be an intracranial space conservation phenomenon.

Methods: Head computed tomographies (CTs) from 22 unoperated NNSC patients at our institution were utilized in this study and matched with age-matched and sex-matched control subjects. Frontal sinus volumes were measured using Syngo.Via, and statistical analysis was performed. Inclusion criteria for patients included the presence of a frontal sinus with unoperated sagittal craniosynostosis, whereas inclusion criteria for controls included the presence of a frontal sinus and no craniofacial trauma. Pearson correlation coefficient and significance values were calculated to evaluate the relationship between frontal sinus volume and craniosynostosis.

Results: Six of 22 patients with NNSC were found to have the presence of a frontal sinus volume, compared with controls where all patients had the presence of a frontal sinus. When compared with age-sex matched controls, our analysis revealed a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.993 and a high significance of P < 0.001, indicating a strong association between decreased-to-absent frontal sinus volume in unoperated NNSC patients.

Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate a correlation between decreased-to-absent frontal sinus volume in patients with NNSC in comparison to normal controls. These findings highlight the potential utility of frontal sinus volume as a diagnostic tool in identifying the degree of compensation that the skull has undergone in nonsyndromic sagittal craniosynostosis.