[Animal experiments on the frontal sinus development after craniofacial surgery on the frontal bone in Göttingen...

According to the literature, the development of the frontal sinus is a result of the active immigration of cells from the ethmoidal complex into the os frontale. This migration theory is in contrast to the results in patients with Apert's syndrome. When front-orbital advancement at the age of a few months is performed in these patients--at a time when the frontal suture is not yet closed--a sinus developed despite the distance between nasal root and os frontale, being up to 2 cm. In order to investigate the development of the frontal sinus, an animal study in 12 juvenile Goettingen minipigs (age 5-6 weeks) with histologically pronen un-developed frontal sinus was performed. To exclude the emigration of ethmoidal complex cells into the frontale bone an orthotopical transposition of the frontale bone into the os occipitale was performed. Histologically the development of a frontal sinus in the frontal bone was excluded before transplantation. The macro- and microscopic comparison with a control group revealed that in the orthotopical transplants in the os occipitale an epithelium-lined sinus developed beginning from the 35th week. Based on our histomorphological results, a development scheme for the genesis of the sinus frontalis and a model is drawn.