Objective: Aimed to analyse the clinical features of the patients with sphenoid sinus mucocele, achieve earlier diagnosis and more timely intervention and decrease the occurrence of misdiagnoses.
Method: A retrospective study was first conducted in patients with sphenoid sinus mucoele treated in Xiangya hospital from Jan 2000 to Jan 2015. Then literature reports on this disease were collected and analyzed from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wan Fang database.
Result: We collected 82 patients with sphenoid sinus mucocele treated in Xiangya hospital. There were 52 patients presented with headache, 31 patients presented with visual impairment, 10 patients presented with cranial nerve palsy, 2 patients presented with exophthalmos, 15 patients presented with nasal symptoms, and 5 patients with no obvious symptoms. There was no significant difference for symptoms distribution between male and female patients (P > 0.05). Among 45 patients with headache as first symptom and 10 patients with ethmoid sinus mucocele, there were 18 patients and 8 patients subsequently suffering from visual impairment, respectively. We also collected 161 patients in literature except for enrolling, the 82 patients treated in Xiangya hospital, and found that headache was the most common symptom, followed by visual impairment, in the two independent cohorts.
Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the study of maximum sample for sphenoid sinus mucocele in China. Headache and visual impairment are the most common symptoms for sphenoid sinus mucocele. Surgical treatment should be early performed when the desease accompanied with headache or ethmoid sinus mucocele, to avoid other complications such as visual impairment and even blindness.