Diagnosing Pathological Changes in the Non-thickening Sinus Mucosa: A Retrospective CBCT Study with Psudocolor Imaging

Objective: The aim of this study is to test the utility of pseudocolor imaging in the diagnosis and evaluation of the maxillary sinus mucosa, which has a suspicion of pathological change even though no thickening pattern is formed.Methods: Patients with healthy teeth without apical lesions from premolars and molars adjacent to the right and left maxillary sinus on one side (control) and tooth/teeth with apical lesions on the other side (study) were selected (n=17) and included in the study. Cochran's Q test was used to compare distribution of color anterior (A), medial (M) and posterior (P). Post-hoc analysis was performed using Bonferroni correction.Results: The rate of multicolor in the anterior and medial side of the pathological side (52.9% and 47.1%) was higher than the healthy side (35.3% and 29.4%), and it was not statistically significant (p=0.300 and p=0.290). Independently of the groups (n=34), the ratio of multicolor in color A (44.1%) was significantly higher than in color P (20.6%) (p=0.047). On the pathological side (n=17), the ratios of multicolor in color A and M (52.9% and 47.1%, respectively) were higher than in color P (23.5%), but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.148).Conclusion: In implant surgery planning, pseudocolor imaging can be an alternative as a non-invasive adjunctive diagnostic method, especially in the evaluation of the sinus mucosa of maxillary posterior edentulous region in patients with unknown dental history.