Tomography in expansile lesions of the nasal and paranasal sinuses

Of 35 nasal and paranasal sinus masses examined by radiography and tomography, 22 malignant tumors showed purely destructive growth. Bone expansion was observed in 13 benign, and 2 slowly growing malignant masses. Pluridirectional tomography in carefully selected projections is often necessary to reveal expansile growth. The 13 expansile lesions, including mucocele, neurofibroma, dermoid, epidermoid, cementifying fibroma, angiofibroma, inverting papilloma, and cylindroma, are briefly described. Tomographic appearance alone did not characterize histopathologic entities. However, distinctions may be made between fibro-osseous and epithelial tumors, and between fast growing and slowly growing tumors.