Ossifying fibroma of the nose and paranasal sinuses

Background: The purpose of this work was to perform a systematic review regarding ossifying fibroma and its multiple variants of the paranasal sinuses, and to identify any clinical differences between the multiple variants. Methods: A search of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed) database was performed for the non-Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) search term "ossifying fibroma." The bibliographies of the retrieved manuscripts were searched to identify additional potentially relevant articles. Finally, textbooks of head and neck pathology were searched to identify peer-reviewed literature that addresses the histopathology of ossifying fibroma and its variants. Abstracts were screened by 2 of the authors to identify reports of ossifying fibroma lesions (and its variants) that involved the paranasal sinuses. Extracted data from case reports or case series included the clinical presentation, age, gender, site of involvement, surgical approach, treatment outcome, follow-up period, and recurrence rate. Information derived from cases is summarized in tables, and simple descriptive statistics were applied to the data. Results: A total of 137 distinct patients were identified in 103 reports. Extracted data did not show any appreciable difference in clinical presentation or outcomes. Data on recurrence of these lesions was often limited by a lack of follow-up. Conclusion: Although differentiation between the subtypes of ossifying fibroma can be made histologically, and a diverse nomenclature exists, there does not appear to be any overriding clinical significance to the histopathologic differentiation of OF variants.