Cephalography in Thalassemic patients

Abstract

This article reported a study of cephalography in 60 Thalassemic patients between the age of 11-16 years old. There were 8 beta-thalassemia, 35 beta-thalassemia/Hb E and 17 Hb H diseases. Sixty age-matched controlled patients were used for comparison. It was found that 11 thalassemic patients (18.2%) had showed absence of frontal sinus, only 3 cases had showed absence of maxillary sinus, 38 cases (63.3%) had thickening of frontal bone and parietal bone, mostly in the anterior region. Twenty-two cases (36.6%) had fine granular pattern of bone, five cases (8.3%) had hair on end appearance and 44 cases (73.3%) had thin cortex at posterior and inferior margins of ramus. There were not found in control subjects. There was no significant relationship between the absence of frontal sinus and the thickening of the frontal bone at p less than 0.05.