Case report of cholesterol granuloma in the maxillary sinus

Cholesterol granuloma is known to be a disease formed by hemosiderin and cholesterol crystals when bleeding occurs while ventilation and drainage are not well performed by inflammatory tissue. It is known to occur mainly inside the temporal bone that has been undergone pneumatization, and occurrences in the paranasal sinuses have been rarely reported. A 72-year-old female patient visited to our institution, complaining of a sensation that pus had been coming out of her upper right extraction sockets for the past few months ago. She underwent the extraction of her upper right first and second molars a year ago. In the CBCT image, a well-circumscribed and expansile cystic lesion was located in the right maxillary sinus, bulging posterolateral wall of the maxillary sinus, with amorphous internal calcification and sclerotic border. After surgical excision, the lesion was confirmed as cholesterol granuloma with massive ossification by the histopathological interpretation postoperatively.