Ankylosis of the Coronoid Process to the Zygomatic Bone: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Treatment of Posttraumatic Zygomatic Coronoid Ankylosis. Systematic Review

Facial trauma is mostly associated with traffic accidents, fights, and sports accidents. The mandible, midface, and temporomandibular joint are usually the region's most frequently affected. Coronoid process fractures are rare, representing ∼2% of facial fractures in the literature, usually being the result of direct trauma to the zygomatic region. Due to the anatomical relationship of the coronoid process, it may be associated with other facial fractures, such as fractures of the zygomatic bone. Zygomatic-coronoid ankylosis is a rare clinical entity with variable etiology. It is most commonly associated with trauma (13%-100%), local or systemic infection (0%-53%), or systemic diseases, such as ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, or psoriasis. The aim of this research is to evaluate the different treatments for ankylosis from the coronoid process to the zygoma after trauma, allowing to determine the treatment to obtain the best results. A systematic review was carried out following PRISMA "preferred reports for systematic reviews and meta-analyses" search matrix, based on a PICO question; was used PubMed, Embase, Sciencedirect, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and manual search in high-impact journals between 1946 and 2023 publications in English or Spanish, including randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials, prospective and retrospective cohort studies, case-control studies, series, and case reports. A total of 1993 articles were obtained from the 4 databases. After corroborating duplicate articles, 847 articles were excluded. Another 1112 articles were excluded in the title evaluation, and an additional 1093 after the abstract review; a total of 19 articles eligible for full-text evaluation were established and 1 article was added as a result of the manual search. After the full-text review, it was decided to include 16 articles in the study that met the objectives of the systematic review. After evaluating the different treatments described in the literature, the authors can determine that coronoidectomy through an intraoral approach is the most appropriate treatment for zygomatic coronoid ankylosis, accompanied by postoperative physiotherapy to achieve greater oral opening without recurrences.

Extraarticular joint ankylosis: a rare presentation

Pseudoankylosis is a rare condition that causes inability to open the mouth due to condition related to outside of the temporomandibular joint. Most literature refers to this hypomobility disorder, a result of fusion of the zygomatic bone to the coronoid process, and very rarely is insidious coronoid hyperplasia causing mechanical interference with the posterior maxilla has been reported. We present a case of a 45-year-old woman, who presented with coronoid malformation and overgrowth resulting in progressive decrease in mouth opening. She was managed with coronoidectomy, following which good mouth opening was obtained. In this paper we discuss about the diagnosis and management of this rare disorder.

Extensive temporomandibular joint ankylosis involving medial pterygoid plates and the maxillary tuberosity- a case report

Background

Temporomandibular joint ankylosis is a distressing condition which leads to significant functional debility and facial blemish. It can be surgically managed with gap or interposition arthroplasty, with an objective to restore joint function and prevent re-ankylosis. Sometimes TMJ ankylosis can present with atypical presentations like skull base ankylosis. The main aim of this surgery is to successfully treat such conditions efficiently without any possible complications. However, surgical procedures for such atypical presentations in this disease are rarely reported.

Case summary

Here we report a 27 year old male with Left TMJ ankylosis involving the skull base. The patient presented with reduced mouth opening with a previous history of trauma. For treatment we performed a surgery by doing osteoarthrectomy with interpositional arthroplasty of left TMJ using piezosurgery. To our knowledge this is the only TMJ ankylosis case with involvement of bones of the skull base treated with piezosurgery. Intraoperatively we achieved a mouth opening of 30 mm, and postoperatively after 15 days mouth opening up to 30 mm was achived with physiotherapy.

Conclusion

Some times TMJ ankylosis can present with atypical presentations in which bones of the skull base are involved. These are very rare and could be termed as 'skull base ankylosis'. Such cases can be surgically challenging and some surgical treatment modalities like Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS), 3D Navigation and Piezo-electric surgery could be beneficial in avoiding complications and facilitating efficient treatment.