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Frontal sinus fractures
Author(s) -
Haskell Newman M.,
Travis Lawrence W.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-197308000-00012
Subject(s) - frontal sinus , medicine , sinus (botany) , surgery , complication , posterior wall , general surgery , botany , biology , genus
Opinions vary regarding the treatment of fractures of the frontal bone with frontal sinus extension. Each surgeon bases his therapeutic approach on his teachings and experience, but he may fail to recognize significant residuals be unaware of related complications that occur after the patient is released from his care. The treatment criteria may furthermore be shaded by the experiences of a surgeon who recognizes an occasional post injury complication and proposes treatment of the acute injury which is unnecessarily radical. Clearly, such divergence of opinion can be unified only through critical long‐term follow‐up of patients whose acute frontal sinus injury is carefully analyzed, categorized and systematically treated. The purpose of this discussion is to share a 10‐year experience in the acute management of 63 frontal sinus fractures, treated at the University of Michigan Medical Center Hospitals between 1961 and 1971. The case summaries have been divided into three groups based on the site or sites of sinus fracture, as assessed at the time of the initial injury. Of the 63 total cases, 30 involved fractures of the anterior wall of the frontal sinus; 16 fractures included injury to the nasofrontal duct, and 17 cases involved the posterior wall of the frontal sinus.