TY - JOUR T1 - Agenesis of paranasal sinuses and nasal nitric oxide in primary ciliary dyskinesia JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/09031936.00068810 SP - erj00688-2010 AU - M. Pifferi AU - A. Bush AU - D. Caramella AU - M. Di Cicco AU - M. Zangani AU - I. Chinellato AU - P. Macchia AU - A.L. Boner Y1 - 2010/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2010/07/22/09031936.00068810.abstract N2 - Agenesis of paranasal sinuses was described only in case reports of patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).Since agenesis of paranasal sinuses may contribute to low nasal nitric oxide level, a common finding in PCD, we speculated that this condition might be frequent in PCD patients.Patients referred for PCD evaluation were consecutively recruited for 30 months. In addition to standard diagnostic testing for PCD, CT scan of paranasal sinuses was performed in all subjects.Eighty six patients (46 children aged 8–17 years) were studied. PCD was diagnosed in 41 subjects and secondary ciliary dyskinesia (SCD) was diagnosed in the remaining subjects. Frontal and/or sphenoidal sinuses were either aplastic or hypoplastic in the CT scans of 30 out of 41 PCD patients (73%), but only in 17 out of 45 (38%) with SCD (p=0.002). There was a significant inverse correlation between the score for aplasia/hypoplasia of each paranasal sinus and nasal NO values in the PCD patients (p=0.008, r= −0.432), but not in SCD (p=0.07, r= −0.271).The findings of aplasia/hypoplasia of the frontal and or sphenoidal sinuses may be part of the spectrum of PCD, and this finding should prompt exclusion of this condition. ER -