STUDY OF THE PECULIARITIES OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE NASOLACRIMAL DUCT ORIFICE ACCORDING TO THE DATA OF MULTISLICE COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Abstract

Objective. To develop a method for investigating the perculiarities of the structure of the nasolacrimal duct orifice according to the data of multislice computed tomography (MSCT).Material and methods. The structure of the nasolacrimal duct orifice was investigated in 96 cases in 65 people, including healthy volunteers (n=29), patients with dacryostenosis (n=45), and those with unilateral dacryocystitis (n=22). The type of the nasolacrimal duct orifice was identified using the developed procedure on the basis of the data of contrast-enhanced MSCT of the lacrimal passages. For verification, the investigators used retrograde probing of the nasolacrimal duct in all cases.Results. There were four possible types of the structure of the nasolacrimal duct orifice. Five cases showed discordance between the type of nasolacrimal duct office and the MSCT type identified by retrograde probing. The accuracy of the developed procedure to identify the type of the nasolacrimal duct orifice was 94.8%.Conclusion. The developed methodology based on CT is noninvasive, can reliably identify the type of the structure of the nasolacrimal duct orifice, and may be included in the algorithm for examination of patients with lacrimation disorders.

Keywords

• lacrimal passages
• opening of the nasolacrimal duct
• multislice computed tomography