Current view on the structure and function of the frontal sinus: literature review

Introduction: Chronic inflammatory diseases of the mucous membranes of the nose, paranasal sinuses, and pharynx are the most common pathology of the upper airways. Pathological processes develop more often in the maxillary and ethmoidal sinuses than in the frontal ones; however, the clinical course of frontitis is more severe. Fundamental understanding of the specific structure of frontal sinuses is crucial in the awareness of the precursors of the onset and development of its pathology, the choice of methods of diagnostics and treatment. The aim: The paper was aimed at the analysis of the publications on current data related to the structure and functions of the human frontal sinus and its structural components. Materials and methods: The bibliosemantic method has been used during the study. Findings of the current research works on the study of the human frontal sinus have been analyzed.

Review: The resulting analysis shows that despite the significant amount of research works devoted to the study of the structure and functions of the frontal sinus, the morphofunctional features of its mucosa and the state of local immune protection remained unknown for a long time.

Conclusions: The resulting literature review showed that the study of the morphofunctional properties of the frontal sinus is relevant to date that is reflected in the number of research works, elucidating its topographoanatomical, histological, physiological and immunohistochemical features.