[Radiological research of maxillary sinus development of children and adolescent without sinusitis in Kunming of Yunnan].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the maxillary sinus development and provide data for sinus surgery on children. METHOD: Two thousand two hundred and thirty-eight children were randomly selected among those who underwent skull and nasal sinus CT scanning because of certain symptoms and signs. Patients were divided into eighteen age cohorts based on their age at the time of the scan. Anterior-posterior, transverse diameters and vertical height of the maxillary sinus were measured and statistically analyzed. RESULT: The maxillary sinus volume was enlarging even in adult, hut the growth of maxillary sinus was relatively stable in adolescent. The difference of transverse and anterior-posterior diameters of maxillary sinus had no statistical significance between female and male (P > 0.05), while there was statistically significant difference in the vertical height of maxillary sinus (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results will aid the physicians when correlating the clinical and radiographic findings of pediatric patients who are being evaluated for sinus disease and potential surgical intervention.