Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine - Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of MRI compared to CBCT in the detection of TMJ osseous abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis patients and to assess the TMJ soft tissue changes in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: Twenty eight subjects (56 TMJs). They were allocated in two groups; (RA) group which comprised 14 RA patients (1 male and 13 females) and control group which comprised 14 volunteers (2 males and 12 Females). CBCT and MRI of the TMJ were performed for each subject. Results: Imaging findings revealed statistically significant higher prevalence of erosion, flattening, osteophyte formation, subchondral cyst, sclerosis, and condylar irregularities in the RA group than the controls. Regarding the two modalities, there was a statistically non significant difference between CBCT and MRI regarding the osseous findings in all the TMJs of the studied subjects. Conclusion: MRI is a valuable non ionizing radiation modality that can assess basically the soft tissue component of the TMJ and also can provide reliable diagnostic information about TMJ osseous abnormalities approximating those obtained by CBCT

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