Abstract
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the frontal cell variants according to International Frontal Sinus Anatomy Classification (IFAC), in the population of a Brazilian tertiary hospital, and analyze the reliability of the classification between observers.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study in the Hospital de Clínicas of the State University of Campinas, Brazil. One hundred and three Computed Tomography’s (CTs) were evaluated by radiologists and otorhinolaryngologist to estimate the prevalence of frontoethmoidal cells according to the IFAC. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) among examinators was used to evaluate reliability of this findings.
Results:
103 CT scans, totaling 206 sides, were evaluated independently. The agger nasi cell was the most prevalent, present in 95.63% of cases, 37.86% of the exams contained supra agger cells, frontal supra agger cell showed prevalence 37.37%; suprabularcell was present in 77.18% of the sides. As for the frontal suprabular cell, the prevalence was 30.09%, the supraorbital ethmoid cell was present in 32.03%, and frontal septal cell had a 33.49% prevalence. The ICC among the evaluators was classified as “good reliability” or “excellent reliability” for all cells.
Conclusion:
This study describes the frontal cell prevalence among a population in tertiary Brazilian hospital, using the IFAC. This classification had a high ICC.
Level of evidence:
Level 2: Individual cross-sectional study with consistently applied reference standard and blinding.
KEYWORDS
Frontal sinus; Ethmoid sinus; Tomography; Anatomy
HIGHLIGHTS
The IFAC proposes seven types of frontoethmoidal cells.
This study is the first to evaluate prevalence of cells according to IFAC in Brazil.
This classification has a high Intraclass Correlation Coefficient.
Agger nasi cell was the most prevalent cell in this study.
Supra bulla frontal cell was the least prevalent cell.
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