ORIGINAL ARTICLE Anatomic Reference for Computed Tomography of Paranasal Sinuses and Their Communication in the Egyptian Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) M. A. M. Alsafy 1 , S. A. A. El-Gendy 1 and A. A. El Sharaby 2 * Addresses of authors: 1 Department of Anatomy & Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt; 2 Department of Anatomy & Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt *Correspondence: Tel.: +2 016 4191 119; fax: +2 045 3591 017; e-mail: elsharaby@yahoo.com With 12 figures Received December 2011; accepted for publication August 2012 doi: 10.1111/ahe.12005 Summary The purpose of this work was to present an anatomic reference for computed tomography (CT) for the paranasal sinuses of adult buffalo fit the use of anat- omists, radiologists, clinicians and veterinary students. CT images with the most closely corresponding cross sections of the head were selected and studied serially in a rostral to caudal progression from the level of the interdental space to the level of the nuchal line. The anatomical features were compared with the dissected heads and skulls. The paranasal sinuses of buffalo comprise dorsal conchal, middle conchal, maxillary, frontal, palatine, sphenoidal (inconstant, small and shallow when present), lacrimal and ethmoidal that were identified and labelled according to the premolar and molar teeth as landmarks. The topographic description of all the compartments, diverticula, septa and com- munication of the paranasal sinuses in buffalo has been presented. The rela- tionship between the various air cavities and paranasal sinuses was easily visualized. Introduction The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and domestic cattle (Bos taurus) are part of the bovine family and subfamily, but from there branch out into different tribes and genus and are indeed quite different critters. The buffalo population in the world is actually about 168 million head: 161 mil- lion can be found in Asia (95.83%); 3717 million are in Africa, almost entirely in Egypt (2.24%); 3.3 million (1.96%) in South America; 40 000 in Australia (0.02%); 500 000 in Europe (0.30%). It is employed as a draught animal, but also produces meat, horns, skin and particu- larly the rich and precious milk that gives creams, butter, yoghurt and many cheeses, including the delicious mozza- rella (Borghese, 2005). Paranasal sinuses are paired cavi- ties within the skull and develop by evagination of the nasal mucosa into the spongy bone between external and internal plates of cranial and facial bones. Thus, each sinus is lined by respiratory epithelium and has a direct opening to the nasal cavity except for the lacrimal and palatine sinuses, which are diverticula of maxillary sinus (Nickel et al., 1986; Budras et al., 2003). Many of the clini- cally important septa of paranasal sinuses in ruminants are not solid and completed by membranes that do not sur- vive maceration (Konig and Liebich, 2007; Shojaei et al., 2008). Understanding of the position and extent of the paranasal sinuses, their communication with each other, associated structures and nasal cavity is important in inter- pretation of the diseases of the upper respiratory passages and the disorders of adjacent structures (Losonsky et al., 1997; Morrow et al., 2000; Reetz et al., 2006). Infectious and non-infectious inflammatory disease, trauma, dental and nasopharyngeal diseases can cause clinical signs local- ized to the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses (Barringtond and Tuckerd, 1996; Reetz et al., 2006). To our knowledge, few publications are available on the anatomy of the paranasal sinuses in the buffalo (Moustafa and Kamel, 1971; Saigal and Khatra, 1977; Kumar and Dhingra, 1980). Yet, a vague understanding is still unexplained for the complexities of these sinuses in buffalo, that is, their extension, location, their contribution to the teeth and their communications with the nasal cavity and horns. © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Anat. Histol. Embryol. 1 Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia