Frontal sinus obliteration: a comparison of fat, muscle, bone, and spontaneous osteoneogenesis in the cat model.

The obliteration of the frontal sinus is frequently necessary in the appropriate treatment of trauma, chronic infection, and benign tumors, but the various methods have not been directly compared previously. This study compares four treatment groups (seven cats per group) specifically of implantation of autologous fat, muscle, and bone and spontaneous osteogenesis done using a strictly standardized operative technique in an unfractured, uninfected feline frontal sinus model. All methods studied were effective in sinus obliteration; however, significant morbidities occurred at the donor sites when autologous tissue transplantation was used. Therefore, spontaneous osteogenesis appears to be the method of choice for frontal sinus obliteration.