Computed tomography and conventional radiography in diagnosis of middle face fractures

Abstract

Fourteen patients of both sexes ranging between 22 and 56 years of age were investigated in this study. All patients selected had recent severe trauma to the craniofacial complex. They were examined by both conventional radiography and computed tomography (CT). It has been found that conventional radiography is useful for demonstrating simple mandibular, maxillary and middle face fractures. However, it did not demonstrate the more complicated middle face fractures. On the other hand, CT was found to be a very reliable modality for evaluating the more complicated middle face fractures. CT offered information that could not be obtained by conventional radiography as soft tissues association, fractures of the antral walls, ethmoid and nasal bones as well as displaced bone fragments. The main advantages of CT including the lack of superimpositions, the possibility of image manipulation as well as the three-dimensional reconstruction capabilities.