HISTOPATHOLOGIC CHANGES OF THE TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT DISK IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ARTHRITIC DISEASE - A COMPARISON WITH INTERNAL DERANGEMENT

Histopathologic examination was performed of the disk and the posterio r attachment extirpated from 17 temporomandibular joints from 15 patie nts with chronic arthritic disease. Seven patients had rheumatoid arth ritis (including two with juvenile type), five had ankylosing spondyli tis, and three had psoriatic arthropathy, which affected more joints t han the temporomandibular joint. Specimens removed from 16 temporomand ibular joints from 15 patients with internal derangement were used for histopathologic comparison. In both groups of patients, inflammatory changes were observed but no specific histopathologic signs could dist inguish the groups. Patients with chronic arthritic disease seemed to have more pronounced changes of vascular proliferation, perivascular c ellular infiltrate, inflammatory cells, and fibrosis throughout the so ft tissues. Destruction of the disk was another finding evident in pat ients with chronic arthritic temporomandibular joint disease; there wa s no visible disk structure in 8 of these 17 joints, compared with 1 o f the 16 joints in the internal derangement group.