Clinical Significance of Asymptomatic Sinus Abnormalities on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of abnormalities of the paranasal sinus detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in asymptomatic subjects. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Outpatient clinic. PATIENTS: A total of 325 patients who underwent MRI for suspected intracranial disease. Of those, 257 patients lacked nasal or sinus symptoms. RESULTS: Sinus abnormalities were seen on MRI in 153 (47.1%) of 325 patients, including 107 (41.6%) of the 257 asymptomatic patients. Subjects older than 50 years had a significantly higher frequency of sinus abnormalities on MRI (49.8%) vs those younger than 50 years (39.5%) (P < .05). The maxillary sinus abnormality was observed in 99 patients (38.5%) and the ethmoid sinus abnormality was observed in 52 (20.2%) (P < .01). The most common abnormality was mucosal thickening in the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses. CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of sinus abnormalities was detected in asymptomatic subjects on MRI.