Sivakumar Aparna, Ganesan Anuradha, Lakshmi Krithika Chandrasekar, Aniyan Yesoda, Kannan Saravanan
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, SRM Dental College, Bharathi Salai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Department of Radiology in Saravana Imaging and Research Centre, Nandanam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Indian J Radiol Imaging. 2024 Aug 1;35(1):50-58. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1788608. eCollection 2025 Jan.
The study is aimed to perform magnetic resonance (MR) cartigram of the articular disc in patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Thirty-nine volunteers were divided into three groups: 16 symptomatic TMD, 16 asymptomatic TMD, and 7 controls. The articular disc was divided into three segments (anterior, middle, and posterior) and analyzed using morphological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and T2 mapping sequences. T2 relaxation values were measured and assessed by an experienced radiologist and two observers. The T2 values in the discs were compared between the control, asymptomatic, and symptomatic groups using the Kruskal-Wallis test. The right and left discs were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Inter-examiner reliability among different examiners was evaluated. The controls had the highest T2 values compared with the other groups. The comparison among the right and left sides of all the groups revealed statistically significant results in the anterior portion in the asymptomatic group and the middle portion in the symptomatic group ( < 0.05). The inter-examiner reliability coefficients among the three examiners were consistently high, with values of 0.921, 0.920, and 0.930. Our study found the T2 relaxation time span was shorter than that reported in previous studies, which could be attributed to the early stage of cartilage deterioration in the individuals with TMD inferring treatment at this phase may be eventually effective with a good prognosis.
本研究旨在对无症状和有症状的颞下颌关节紊乱病（TMD）患者的关节盘进行磁共振（MR）造影。39名志愿者被分为三组：16名有症状的TMD患者、16名无症状的TMD患者和7名对照组。关节盘被分为三个部分（前部、中部和后部），并使用形态学磁共振成像（MRI）和T2映射序列进行分析。由一名经验丰富的放射科医生和两名观察者测量并评估T2弛豫值。使用Kruskal-Wallis检验比较对照组、无症状组和有症状组椎间盘的T2值。使用Wilcoxon符号秩检验比较左右椎间盘。评估不同检查者之间的检查者间可靠性。与其他组相比，对照组的T2值最高。所有组左右两侧的比较显示，无症状组前部和有症状组中部的结果具有统计学意义（<0.05）。三位检查者之间的检查者间可靠性系数一直很高，分别为0.921、0.920和0.930。我们的研究发现，T2弛豫时间跨度比先前研究报道的要短，这可能归因于TMD个体软骨退变的早期阶段，由此推断在此阶段进行治疗最终可能有效且预后良好。
