Computed tomography in diagnosis and treatment of mandibular fractures. Report of a case

Structural analysis of the mandible by quantitative computed tomography

The study presents quantitative computed tomography (QCT) as a noninvasive method for analyzing the inner bone structure. Randomly selected mandibles from the osteological collection of the "Drago Perović" Institute of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Zagreb were CT-scanned in five bone areas. Analyzing the densitometry curve in two horizontal levels the relation between the compact and spongy bone and the total amount of bone substance in each area were determined. The smallest bone quantity was found in the area of the neck and angle of the mandible, the areas of most frequent bone fractures. The alveolar part of the bone, apart from the area of the angle, was considerably less thick than the base of the mandible. The compact bone was predominant in all CT-scans.

Computed tomography diagnosis of acute facial swelling in an adult hemophiliac

Acute facial swelling can be life-threatening due to airway obstruction. Hemophiliac patients presenting with acute facial swelling must have accurate and expedient diagnosis. We report the case of acute nontraumatic swelling in a hemophiliac patient that was easily and accurately diagnosed by the use of computed tomography scan.

Application of computed tomography for diagnosis of alveolar bony defects

This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) in analyzing the three-dimensional structure of alveolar bony defects. The result showed that differences between CT film and actual readings from the cusp ridge to the bone crest were negligible, and the reading on CT film was underestimated approximately 1 mm at the distance from the cusp ridge to the bottom of the bony defect. By reading a series of CT films, one can easily evaluate the type of bony defects. Therefore, application of CT maybe useful for analyzing three-dimensional structure and diagnosis of the alveolar bony defects.