Computed tomographic scan utilization in the diagnosis of otorhinolaryngological diseases

Abstract

Background: Having an audit of common otorhinolaryngological diseases diagnosed on computed tomography (CT) scan in our environment is important as it will help elucidate the sociodemographics and pattern of referral for CT scan from an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) clinic as well as CT findings. Materials and Methods: The request forms as well as the CT scan reports of 203 patients who were referred from the ENT clinic between 2006 and 2014 and had CT scan were retrieved from our records. All CT scans were done using a four-slice BrightSpeed helical GE CT scan machine. Out of the 214 patients recruited for this study, only 203 patients were unanimously agreed upon by the authors as the remaining 11 patients had incomplete data. Results: There were 124 males (61.1%) and 79 females (38.9%). The mean age of patients with nasopharyngeal tumor was 40.67 ± 26.01 years, laryngeal tumor was 57.47 ± 15.64 years, antrochoanal carcinoma was 46.05 ± 22.95 years, and sinusitis was 44.96 ± 17.19 years, while that of otitis media was 43.33 ± 23.60 years. A total of 177 patients representing 87.2% of the study population had one or two pathological findings on CT scan. Sinusitis accounted for most findings on CT scan (12.8%), followed by laryngeal tumor (10.7%) and antrochoanal carcinoma (10.2%). Others were choanal polyp (9.7%), nasopharyngeal tumors (9.2%), rhinitis (6.1%), mastoiditis (5.1%), and mucocele of the sinuses (4.6%). Juvenile angiofibroma (1.0%) and palatal masses (1.0%) were the least in terms of occurrence of all ENT conditions. Conclusion: Common findings on CT scan of the ENT in our environment have been documented.