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X-ray of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 18.10.2021
X-ray examination of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, larynx, hearing organ, as well as the eye and orbit has gained full recognition in the clinic already in the first years after the discovery of X-rays. This is all the more obvious today, when such ray methods as sonography, computer and magnetic resonance imaging, scintigraphy have "entered their rights". Radiation diagnostics became a necessary part of the clinical examination of patients in otorhinolaryngology and ophthalmology clinics.
Nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses
The nasal cavity occupies a central position in the facial skull. It is divided in half by a septum made up by a vertical plate of the trellis and a vomer. The rear opening of the nasal cavity divides the opener into two parts - the choana. The anterior opening of the nasal cavity - the so-called pear-shaped opening - is formed by the bones of the upper jaw and is closed by the nasal bones on top. Around the nasal cavity there are paired paranasal, or accessory, sinuses. They communicate with the nasal cavity by means of passages or channels, lined with mucous membrane and under normal conditions are filled with air, as a result of which they are clearly visible on radiographs as light and clearly limited formations.
X-ray anatomy of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses
Diseases of the nose and paranasal sinuses
Damage to the sinuses is associated with bone fractures, in the environment of which they are. The fracture and displacement of fragments are determined from x-ray images or tomograms. Hemorrhage into the damaged sinus is accompanied by its darkening. If the air from the sinus penetrated through the fracture of its bone wall into the surrounding tissues, then on the X-ray patterns you can see light gas bubbles against the background of these tissues. Most often, there are fractures of the nasal bones, which are characterized by displacement of fragments back and forth. The task of the radiologist is reduced not so much to reveal the fracture line, but how to establish the degree of deformation of the osseous part of the nose before and after the repair of the fragments.
Any substitution of air in the sinus with another tissue (exudate, blood, granulation, swelling) leads to a decrease or disappearance of its lumen and, consequently, to darkening it in the pictures.