REVIEW   

Il Giornale Italiano di Radiologia Medica 2019 Gennaio-Febbraio;6(1):94-107

DOI: 10.23736/S2283-8376.19.00159-1

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Role of imaging in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant diseases of the jaw

Elena CARDILLO ¹, Stefania CARUSO ¹, Giulio DISTEFANO ¹ ✉, Francesco IANNACE ¹, Pietro V. FOTI ¹, Maria CORONELLA ¹, Giovanni C. ETTORRE ², Stefano PALMUCCI ¹, Antonio BASILE ¹

¹ Radiology I Unit, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies, “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele” University Hospital, Catania, Italy; ² Diagnostica per Immagini S.R.L., Catania, Italy

Lesions affecting the jaw constitute a wide spectrum of pathologies of different origins and can be subdivided into tumor lesions (benign and malignant), phlogistic and metabolic. Multidetector computed tomography is able to identify some characteristic features that may direct the radiologist towards a correct differential diagnosis, with possible impact on the therapeutic approach and on the outcome. In this paper we describe the main patterns of the most frequent lesions of the jaw, reporting some clinical cases from our series.

KEY WORDS: Jaw - Osteochondroma - Histiocytosis - Neoplasms - Hyperparathyroidism