THE VALUE OF THE WATERS' VIEW IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE MAXILLARY SINUS INFLAMATORY MUCOSAL PATHOLOGY
1Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, KBB-BBC, Hatay, Türkiye2Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Radyoloji, Hatay, Türkiye Objective: We aimed to investigate the value and the interobserver reliability of the Waters' graphy in the pathogenesis of maxillary sinus mucosal inflamatory conditions.
Material and Method: Radiologic findings of 88 patients who had had both Waters' graphy and computed tomography with suspicion of sinusitis were assessed by 2 radiologist and 2 otorhinolaryngologist. The sensitivity, the positive predictive value, accuracy and interobserver reliability of the Waters' graphy were calculated for each observer.
Results: The sensitivity, the positive predictive value, accuracy and interobserver reliability of the Waters's graphy changed from 78.5% to 92.0% (mean86.8 ± 5.4%), 85.% to 88.0% (mean: 86.67 ± 1.95%) 82.9% to 89.0% (mean: 86.85 ± 2.7%) and 64.4% to 86.2%, respectively.
Conclusion: Waters' graphy is an appropriate method in the radiologic diagnosis of the maxillary sinusitis. It seems resonable that the methods which are more expensive and exposing more radiation to the patient such as CT should be carried out in patients with continuing sinusitis suspicion despite of negative Waters' and in situations of preoperative evaluation.
Keywords : Waters', sinusitis, maxillary sinus, paranasal sinus computed tomography