Duplex-Doppler and cine-Bmode echography of the temporal-mandibular joint. Clinical validation.

We study, with the recently introduced method of analysis of the behavior of the TMJ through duplex-Doppler and cine-Bmode echography, a set of 38 patients already clinically examined. Among them we have 10 normal and 28 abnormal patients with various pathological conditions, 22 clicks of different intensities, three condylomeniscal lack of coordination and three locks. We obtained from the normal patients the typical duplex-Doppler spectra showing symmetrically alternate behavior and regular profiles during opening and closing of the mouth. In the case of clicks we obtained spectra with various irregularities of the profile and discontinuities in the worst cases. For the locks we observed a drastic and systematic reduction of the spectral amplitude.