THE SPHENOID sinuses, situated as they are deep within the skull, are improbable sites for foreign bodies. In western literature there are fewer than 30 cases recorded. The ones which are reported are generally shrapnel wounds which occurred during the first four decades of this century. Bruckner and Weingartner1 found that out of 300 shrapnel wounds of the paranasal sinuses, 1.3% (4 cases) involved the sphenoid sinus. Sargnon,2 in reviewing more than 26,000 war wounds, found only four foreign bodies of the sphenoid sinus. Eight foreign bodies of the sphenoid sinus are reported by Jeschek3 in a selected series which contrast the routes of removal. Ferris4 reports removing the tip of a ball point pen from the sinus which had been self-inflicted by a mental patient.
The following case is of particular interest not only in the location of the foreign body, but also because the