Radiographic Study of Bony Changes of the Mandibular Condyle

하악과두의 골변화에 관한 방사선학적 비교연구

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to compare radiographic techniques for the diagnostic accuracy in the detection of osteophytes of the mandibular condyle. Material and Methods : A series of bone chips were placed at four locations on the condylar head of a dried human skull. Eight radiographic techniques such as panoramic, transcranial, infracranial, transorbital, reverse-Towne's, submentovertex, multidirectional tomographic and computed tomographic techniques were compared. Three oral radiologists were asked to rate the lesions by four stage score. The statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA test. Results: For the detection of lateral osteophyte, transcranial, infracranial, transorbital and reverse-Towne' s views showed superiority. Also, transcranial and infracranial views showed superiority for medial osteophyte. While for the detection of superior and anterior osteophyte, panoramic, transcranial, infracranial, transorbital views showed superiority. Lateral tomograph showed superiority for the detection of superior and anterior osteophyte, but it showed inferiority for lateral and medial osteophyte. And antero-posterior tomograph showed superiority for the detection of all osteophytes. Axial computed tomograph showed superiority for the detection of all osteophytes, and coronal computed tomograph showed superiority for lateral, medial and superior osteophytes. While reconstructed sagittal computed tomograph showed relatively superiority for the detection of anterior and superior osteophytes. Conclusion : The conventional radiographs can be used for the detection of bony changes of the mandibular condyle, and tomograph or computed tomograph can be used additionally when it is difficult to detect bony changes on conventional radiographs.