REVIEW   

Minerva Dental and Oral Science 2022 February;71(1):48-52

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6329.21.04582-4

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Imaging of odontogenic keratocysts: a pictorial review

Francesco CAVARRA ¹, Paolo BOFFANO ¹ ✉, Matteo BRUCOLI ², Muhammad RUSLIN ³, Tymour FOROUZANFAR ⁴, Angela RIDWAN-PRAMANA ⁴, Tanía RODRÍGUEZ-SANTAMARTA ⁵, Juan C. de VICENTE ⁵, Thomas STARCH-JENSEN ⁶, Petia PECHALOVA ⁷, Nikolai PAVLOV ⁸, Iva DOYKOVA ⁹, Dimitar GOSPODINOV ⁷, Vitomir S. KONSTANTINOVIC ¹⁰, Milan JOVANOVIĆ ¹⁰, Aude BARRABÉ ¹¹, Aurélien LOUVRIER ^{11, 12}, Christophe MEYER ^{11, 13}, Tiia TAMME ¹⁴, Aleksei ANDRIANOV ¹⁴, Tadej DOVŠAK ¹⁵, Anže BIRK ¹⁵, Vincenzo ROCCHETTI ¹⁶

¹ Division of Dentistry, Hospital of Vercelli, Vercelli, Italy; ² Division of Maxillofacial Surgery, Maggiore della Carità University Hospital, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy; ³ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia; ⁴ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Oral Pathology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; ⁵ Service of Maxillofacial Surgery, Central University Hospital of Asturias, Oviedo, Spain; ⁶ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital of Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark; ⁷ Department of Oral Surgery, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria; ⁸ Clinic of Maxillofacial Surgery, St. George University Hospital, Plovdiv, Bulgaria; ⁹ Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria; ¹⁰ School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; ¹¹ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Unit of Dentistry, University Hospital of Besançon, Besançon, France; ¹² University of Franche-Comté, INSERM, EFS BFC, UMR 1098 Interactions Hôte-Greffon-Tumeur/Ingénierie Cellulaire et Génique, Besançon, France; ¹³ University of Franche-Comté, EA 4662 Nanomedicine Lab Imagery and Therapeutics, Besançon, France; ¹⁴ Department of Stomatology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; ¹⁵ Department of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, University Medical Centre of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; ¹⁶ Division of Pathology, Hospital of Vercelli, Vercelli, Italy

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present article was to review and depict the main radiological features of odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs), thus helping the differential diagnoses from other odontogenic cysts and neoplasms.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A review of articles published between January 2000 and October 2020 using Medline and the MeSH Term “odontogenic keratocyst” in combination with the following terms “imaging,” “radiology,” “panoramic radiograph,” and “computed tomography,” was performed.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Radiographically, OKCs are well-defined unilocular or multilocular radiolucencies bounded by corticated margins. Most lesions are unilocular; instead, multilocular OKCs represent about the 30% of cases, mainly involving the posterior mandible. When, particularly in large lesions, OKCs display a multilocular presentation with adjacent satellite cysts (daughter cysts) a “soap-bubble appearance” can be recognized.
DISCUSSION: Panoramic radiograph and CT still play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment planning of OKCs. Unfortunately, it may not be easy to differentiate OKCs from other odontogenic lesions, especially when they are small and unilocular.
CONCLUSIONS: Histopathological findings are still necessary to obtain a definitive diagnosis.

KEY WORDS: Odontogenic cysts; Imaging; Diagnosis; Radiography, panoramic