Treatment of frontal sinus osteoma using a craniofacial approach

Osteoma is one of most common benign tumors of the nose and paranasal sinuses, with the frontal sinus being its most frequent location. It may be locally destructive and aggressive with possible intracranial complications. Osteoma of the frontal sinus comprises 57% of all osteomas in the paranasal sinuses. In 1939, Childrey reviewed 3,510 consecutive sinus radiographs taken for any reason and found an incidence of 0.43% of paranasal sinus osteomas. There are many operative approaches for frontal sinus osteomas, such as external frontoethmoidal approach and osteoplastic frontal sinusectomy, both with high recurrence rates. Those traditional operative methods cannot radically eradiate the osteoma grown in the posterior table of the frontal sinus. From July 1991 to June 1992, three patients with symptomatic frontal sinus osteomas were operated by a craniofacial approach. One patient is presented here in detail. A coronal incision is used and is found to be beneficial both in surgical exposure and in reconstruction with a calvarial bone graft. The patient has been followed for 3.5 years without osteoma recurrence.