Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Ulm, and Department of Operative Dentistry, Periodontology, and Pedodontics, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Magn Reson Med. 2011 Aug;66(2):538-45. doi: 10.1002/mrm.22828. Epub 2011 Feb 28.
The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of ultra short echo time imaging for the assessment of caries lesions and early demineralization. 12 patients with suspected caries lesions underwent a dental magnetic resonance imaging investigation comprising ultra short echo time imaging (echo time=50 μs) and spin echo imaging. Before the dental magnetic resonance imaging, all patients underwent a conventional clinical dental investigation including visual assessment of the teeth as well as dental x-ray imaging. All lesions identifiable in the x-ray could be clearly identified in the ultra short echo time images, but only about 19% of the lesions were visible in the spin echo images. In 19% of all lesions, the lesions could be more clearly delineated in the ultra short echo time images than in the x-ray images. This was especially the case for secondary lesions. In direct comparison with the x-ray images, all lesions appeared substantially larger in the dental magnetic resonance imaging data. The presented data provide evidence that caries lesions can be identified in ultra short echo time magnetic resonance imaging with high sensitivity. The apparent larger volume of the lesions in dental magnetic resonance imaging may be attributed to fluid accumulation in demineralized areas without substantial breakdown of mineral structures.
本研究旨在探讨超短回波时间成像在龋齿病变和早期脱矿评估中的潜力。12 名疑似龋齿病变的患者接受了一项包括超短回波时间成像（回波时间=50μs）和自旋回波成像的牙科磁共振成像检查。在进行牙科磁共振成像之前，所有患者均接受了常规临床牙科检查，包括牙齿的目视评估以及牙科 X 射线成像。所有在 X 射线中可识别的病变在超短回波时间图像中均可清晰识别，但仅约 19%的病变在自旋回波图像中可见。在所有病变中，有 19%的病变在超短回波时间图像中比在 X 射线图像中更能清晰地描绘出来。对于继发性病变尤其如此。与 X 射线图像直接比较，所有病变在牙科磁共振成像数据中均明显更大。所提供的数据表明，超短回波时间磁共振成像可以高度敏感地识别龋齿病变。病变在牙科磁共振成像中的表观较大体积可能归因于脱矿区域内的流体积聚，而矿物质结构没有实质性破坏。
