Anatomy and Anatomical Variations of the Paranasal Sinuses

Abstract

The anatomy of the sinuses has been previously investigated in many studies. Without going back to the earliest reported works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, let us mention some of the more recent, well-known investigators, such as Boyer, and others who were active during the late nineteenth century: Zuckerkandl (1), Sieur (2), Jacob (2) Mouret (3–5), Onodi (6), Grünwald (7), and Killian (8, 9), who made detailed studies on the formation and structure of the most complex structures in the sinuses: the ethmoidal labyrinth, or the structures of the middle meatus. Unfortunately, these authors gave different names to the same anatomical structures, and sometimes the same name was given to different structures. Consequently, it is sometimes less difficult to recognize structures in the labyrinth of ethmoidal cells than in that of the different terms and definitions. Undoubtedly, a revised, unified system of terminology is necessary. However, habits and surgical practice have given rise to definitions that are somewhat inexact, but have entered the scientific jargon through usage. The recent enthusiasm for endoscopic surgery of the nasal cavities and sinuses as a result of studies by Messerklinger (10), and later Stammberger (11), Kennedy et al. (12), Buiter (13, 14), Friedrich (15, 16), Wigand (17), Rouvier et al. (18–20), and so forth, the precise description and accurate detail provided by endoscopy, and also advances in modern imaging techniques have revived interest in the anatomy of the sinuses.