Relation between volume of sphenoid sinuses and protrusion of Vidian nerve: possible applications to Vidian neurectomy

Purpose Vidian neurectomy is a surgical procedure applied to different pathological conditions, including chronic rhinitis and sphenopalatine neuralgia. The choice of the correct surgical approach depends upon the possible protrusion of Vidian nerve into the sphenoid sinuses. The present study analyzes the possible relationship between protrusion of Vidian nerve and volume of sphenoid sinuses. Methods In total, 320 maxillofacial CT-scans were retrospectively assessed. Subjects equally divided among males and females (age range 18-94 years) were divided into three groups according to the profile of Vidian nerve protrusion: type 1: Vidian nerve inside the sphenoid corpus; type 2: partially protruding into the sphenoid sinus; and type 3: entirely protruding into the sphenoid sinus through a stalk. Volume of sphenoid sinuses was extracted through the ITK-SNAP-free software and automatically calculated. Possible statistically significant differences in prevalence of the three types between males and females were assessed through Chi-squared test (p < 0.05). Differences in volume of sphenoid sinuses in subjects included within the three types were assessed through one-way ANOVA test (p < 0.05), separately for males and females. Results Type 2 was the most prevalent (46.5%), followed by type 1 (38.8%) and type 3 (14.7%), without significant differences according to sex (p > 0.05). Volume significantly increased passing from type 1 to type 3 both in males (p < 0.01) and in females (p < 0.01). Conclusions The results prove the existence of a strict relationship between sphenoid sinuses pneumatization and protrusion of the Vidian canal and give a contribution to the knowledge of this important anatomical variant in endoscopic surgery.