Origin and treatment of osteomas of the paranasal sinuses.

MANY osteomas of the paranasal sinuses are not reported. Since 1930, however, 51 patients with such lesions have been encountered at the Mayo Clinic, a fact which would suggest that these tumors occur more commonly than would be supposed on the basis of reports in the literature. Although an osteoma of the frontal sinus was successfully treated by Veiga in 1506 and described in 1586, 1 the first recorded attempt at removal of such a lesion in the United States was not made until 1864. and in that instance the attempt ended in failure. 2 Generally, an osteoma of the paranasal sinuses is not reported until after it has attained such size that it is invading adjacent structures and producing symptoms so unmistakable that the need for surgical treatment is urgent. No one, to our knowledge, has investigated the frequency with which evidence of osteomas, large or small, of the