Is sphenoid sinus opacity significant in patients with optic neuritis?
Possible mechanisms of nerve damage in this situation include direct spread of infection, occlusive vasculitis and bony deficiency in the wall of the sinus. Patients presenting with isolated optic neuritis and atypical headache should be scanned; an opaque sphenoid sinus in the context of visual loss should not be dismissed as coincidental but assumed to be pathological and the patient referred for drainage. Sphenoid sinusitis is an uncommon but treatable cause of optic neuritis.
In 1996-2010, the frequency of hysterectomy in Lombardy fell markedly. This study confirms the declining trend in abdominal hysterectomies observed in most developed countries, though the surgical approaches to hysterectomy differ in different countries. In particular, in Lombardy the proportion of laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomies, though increasing, is low.