ULTRASONOGRAPHY EVALUATION OF BONE-LESIONS OF THE JAW

The ultrasonographic aspects of 72 intraosseous lesions of the jaws we re evaluated to identify the usefulness of this type of examination. T he principal aim of ultrasonography was to recognize the lesion's cont ent before surgical treatment. Four groups of lesions were classified after the definitive histopathologic examination: lesions with solid, liquid, dense liquid, and mixed contents. The initial ultrasonography examination was in agreement with the histopathologic findings in 24 ( 92.3%) cases with solid content, 17 (73.9%) cases with liquid content, 7 (7.7%) cases with dense liquid content, and 13 (92.8%) cases with m ixed content. On the basis of the results of this study, we propose th e use of ultrasongraphy as a complementary examination for intraosseou s lesions of the jaws. If a liquid component is identified in ultrason ography, a surgical procedure should be performed immediately. Otherwi se, if a lesion with solid component is identified, it should be biops ied for histopathologic examination and final diagnosis before definit ive surgery.