الفهرس 
Dual-echo and Inversion Recovery Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pulse Sequences in Diagnosis of Temporomandibular Disorders. Diagnostic Accuracy Study
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Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely accepted standard for the assessment of patients complaining of pain related to the temporomandibular joint. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is an umbrella term for a group of musculoskeletal disorders that affect the joint and the supporting system around it. Disc displacement is one of the most frequent pathologic findings of the TMJ, associated with and without pain. Sometimes, this displacement can cause deformation in the disc’s biconcave morphology. Due to mechanical overload associated with the mentioned abnormalities release of inflammatory mediators may result known as joint effusion.
The present study was designed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of different MRI pulse sequences; dual-echo and inversion recovery (FLAIR and STIR) MRI sequences in diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders. The sample comprised 27 patients (54TMJs) recruited from Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo University. Patients complaining from joint pain or limited mouth opening or longstanding unexplained headache were included in the study. The gold standard MR imaging for TMJ includes PD and T2-WI.
The patients were imaged using Philips- MRI 1.5T scanner with closed mouth position for: proton density, T2, dual-echo, FLAIR, and STIR. Then the patient was instructed to open his/her mouth to scan proton density and dual-echo sequences with open mouth position.
The results of the current study revealed that there was no statistical significant difference between the dual-echo-T2 imaging sequence and the gold standard T2WI in identifying joint effusion and/or retrodiscitis. Moreover, there was no statistical significant difference between the dual-echo-PD imaging sequence and the gold standard PDWI in delineating the articular disc position in relation to condylar head, disc morphology and the cortical bone. There was no statistical significant difference between STIR and T2WI in identifying joint effusion and/or retrodiscitis. FLAIR imaging sequence cannot be used for joint effusion detection.