MAGNETIC RESONANSE IMAGING OF THE TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINTS USING STANDART HEAD COIL

Ignat’ev Yu.T., Khomutova Ye.Yu., Savchenko R.K.

Omsk State Medical University.

Omsk, Russia.

Diseases of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a common cause of admission to doctors in dental clinics. Special radiofrequency coil is required for a standard MRI. It is not available in the standard package scanners and there is no standard non-magnetic device for fixing the open mouth.

Purpose. To present author’s experience in TMJ visualization using a head coil and copyright nonmagnetic device for fixing the lower jaw at the open mouth.

Materials and methods. Scanning protocols were improved for performing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the TMJ using a head coil. The examination included T2-WI, Pd-weighted images in coronal plane, T1-WI in axial plane. In the study at the open-mouth scanning the examination was performed in oblique-sagittal plane to obtain 3D_mFFE images. We used the author's gag for jaw fixation at the functional study. We studied 306 joints in 153 patients. Satisfactory quality images were obtained in 94.7%.

Results. Intraarticular derangements were found in 134 TMJ of 105 patients. In 49 cases intraarticular derangements were associated with arthrosis of varying severity. MR signs of disk fragmentation were diagnosed in three patients with irreducible dislocations. The remaining patients had changes in TMJ associated with rheumatoid arthritis, hypermobility.

Conclusions. MRI is the gold standard of the TMJ visualization. For this purpose a head coil and improving scanning protocols can be used. Functional MRI of TMJ must be performed with devices for fixing the lower jaw in the open mouth position in order to avoid motion artifacts.

Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, temporomandibular joint, head coil.

Corresponding author:  Ignat’ev Yu.T.,  Этот e-mail адрес защищен от спам-ботов, для его просмотра у Вас должен быть включен Javascript

For citation: Ignat’ev Yu.T., Khomutova Ye.Yu., Savchenko R.K. Magnetic resonance imaging of the temporomandibular joints using standart head coil. REJR. 2016; 6 (1): 29-34. doi: 10.18411/a-2016-003