Avaliação da correlação entre Células de Haller e a presença de sinusopatias nos seios maxilares.

Abstract

This study evaluated the correlation between the presence of Haller cells and sinusopathies of the maxillary sinuses through the analysis of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography scans. A total of 370 CBCT scans from a radiology service in Northeast Brazil were evaluated for the presence of Haller cells, sinus mucosa thickening, antral pseudocyst and total or partial opacification of the maxillary sinus using the RadiAnt DICOM Viewer® software. Association analyses between categorical variables were performed using Pearson's chi-square test. Comparison analyses between categorical and quantitative variables were conducted using Student's t-test, and the significance level was set at p < 0.05. At the end of the evaluation, the prevalence of Haller cells was found to be 14.0% (n = 45) and 18.4% (n = 59) for the right and left sides, respectively. Among cases with antral pseudocyst on the right side, the occurrence of Haller cells was 30.0% (n = 12), while in cases without pseudocyst, the occurrence was 11.7% (n =33), showing a statistically significant association between occurrence of Haller cells on the right side and higher frequency of pseudocyst on the same side (p = 0.002). However, for the other variables studied, no statistically significant associations were observed (p-values > 0.05). The correlation between Haller cells and antral pseudocyst is a likely finding. Despite the controversies still existing in the literature related to the subject, the high prevalence of the structures studied highlight the importance of a thorough preoperative analysis, taking into account all the anatomy adjacent to the surgical field, thus highlighting the value of CBCT for medical sciences.