Alterations of the Temporomandibular Joint on Magnetic Resonance Imaging according to Growth and Development in Schoolchildren
Figure 2
Alteration of mandibular condyles on MRI in growing schoolchildren over time. (a) DCLSs on the top of the mandibular condyles (arrows) appeared as high-intensity stripes over a low-intensity area on fast spin-echo intermediate-weighted images of a healthy 12-year-old boy at the first examination. The voided signal line at the top of the right mandibular condyle was not seen. The imaging parameters used in the MR sequences included 1050 ms TR, 15 ms effective echo time, flip angle of 90°, a 15 × 15 cm field of view, a matrix of 160 × 288 pixels, 17 mm slab thickness, and 3 mm section thickness. (b) High-intensity stripes (arrows) were found to coincide with DCLSs on the top of the mandibular condyles; this was found using fast spin-echo T2-weighted images of the same subject as Figure 1(a). The imaging parameters used in the MR sequences included 3500 ms TR, 108 ms effective echo time, flip angle of 90°, a 15 × 15 cm field of view, a matrix of 160 × 288 pixels, 17 mm slab thickness, and 3 mm section thickness. (c) DCLS at the top of the left mandibular condyle, apparent at the first examination, had disappeared by the second examination three years later in the same subjects as Figures 1(a) and 1(b). The imaging parameters used in the MR sequences included 1050 ms TR, 15 ms effective echo time, flip angle of 90°, a 15 × 15 cm field of view, a matrix of 160 × 288 pixels, 17 mm slab thickness, and 3 mm section thickness. (d) High-intensity stripes (arrows) were not seen at the top of the mandibular condyles at the second examination three years after the first one in the same subjects as Figures 1(a), 1(b), and 2(a). The imaging parameters used in the MR sequences included 3500 ms TR, 108 ms effective echo time, flip angle of 90°, a 15 × 15 cm field of view, a matrix of 160 × 288 pixels, 17 mm slab thickness, and 3 mm section thickness.
