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P 83
Title
IS MEASuREMENT OF LENGHT ENOuGH FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STyLOHyOID CHAIN?
Authors
D. ILGuy 1 , M. ILGuy 1 , E. FISEKCIOGLu 1 , S. DOLEKOGLu 1
Affiliations
1 Yeditepe University Faculty of Dentistry - Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology,
Istanbul, TURKEY
Body
Objective: The orientation of the SHC may be important for evaluation of the patient with
orofacial pain or disphagia. Our purpose was to assess the length and angulations of stylohyoid
chain (SHC) using cone beam computed tomography.
Methods: In this study 3D images with Cone Beam CT (CBCT) of 69 patients (36 females, 33
males, age range 15-77 years) were retrospectively evaluated. All CBCT images of the patients
were prescribed because of other pathologies. None of the patients had symptoms of ossified
SHC. The length and the thickness of SHC ossification, the anteroposterior angle (APA) and
the mediolateral angle (MLA) were measured by maxillofacial radiologists on the anteroposterior,
right lateral, and left lateral views of CBCT. Mann Whitney-U test, paired samples and
Pearson‘s correlation tests were used for statistical analysis
Results: The mean length of SHC was found as 25,3 ±11,3 mm for the total population, 28,2
mm for males and 22,5 mm for females. There were statistically significant correlations between
thickness versus length (p =0.0128, r =0.21) and APA (p =0.00001, r = 0.37) of SHCs.
Conclusions: The size and morphology of the SHC can be easily assessed by 3D views with
cone beam computed tomography. During CBCT evaluation of the head and neck region, SHC
should be considered according to these variations by the radiologist, which may have clinical
importance.
Keywords
Stylohyoid chain,Cone beam computed tomography
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