Prevalence of frontal cells and their relation to frontal sinusitis among patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery: A prospective cross-sectional study in Tanzania

BACKGROUND: A narrow confine of frontal recess area and its variable anatomy has been a great surgical challenge to otorhinolaryngologists. There are several frontal cell types that have been described in frontal recess area. There is limited data in our setting on detailed description of frontal cells in patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery and their correlation to sinusitis. OBJECTIVE: To determine the magnitude of frontal cells and their correlation to sinusitis involving frontal sinuses among patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery at a private health facility in Tanzania's largest populated city. METHODS: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted where both coronal and axial computerized tomography (CT scans) views of paranasal sinuses of 45 patients admitted at a private hospital ready to undergo functional endoscopic sinus surgery were reviewed to identify agger nasi cells, frontal cells and frontal sinus disease. Data were collected for right and left sides. RESULTS: Of the reviewed 90 sides, 75(83.3%) had agger nasi cells and 65(72.2%) had frontal cells. Similarly, 25(27.8%) were mucosal diseases free, 15 (16.7%) had partial opacification and 48(53.3%) had total opacification. Two frontal sinuses (2.2%) were not assessed for the presence of mucosal disease since they were aplastic or severely hypoplastic. There was no any statistically significant difference found in frontal sinus mucosal disease in presence or absence of frontal cells or agger nasi cells. CONCLUSION: The study has depicted frontal cells to be prevalent and higher than what has been reported in literature.