The role of multi detector computerized tomography in evaluation of maxillofacial fractures

ObjectiveThe purpose of our study was to assess the role of multi-detector CT in the evaluation of maxillofacial fractures.Subjects and methodsThe study included 30 patients complaining from facial trauma with suspected facial fractures referred from the emergency unit of the El-Minia University Hospital. All patients subjected to non contrast MDCT in axial cuts and images are transferred to workstation then they underwent coronal, sagittal reconstructed images and 3-D volume rendering that are of benefit in final diagnosis.ResultsA total of 30 patients were included (their mean age 26 years). It was found that the nasal bone is most common to be fractured (found in 19 cases), followed by maxillary bone (17 cases), zygomatic bone (10 cases), mandibular bone (8 cases) and the pterygoid plates are least frequent to be fractured (6 cases). Also, concerning the complex facial fractures; the orbital wall fractures are the most frequent (found in 22 cases), followed by zygomatico-maxillary complex fractures (8 cases), the naso-orbito-ethmoid fractures (6 cases), and lastly comes the Le Forte fractures (found in 4 cases).ConclusionThe use of MDCT is mandatory for the accurate classification of maxillo-facial fractures and so the management decision.