Condylar hyperplasia is a major cause of facial asymmetry. Treatment is primarily surgical and for proper planning is necessary to assess the activity level of growth of the mandibular condyle. The main objective of this study is to analyze the correlation between the level of activity measured in a planar scintigraphy, in a SPECT and the pathological findings in patients with condylar hyperplasia.

We carried out a prospective study of 37 patients with clinical diagnosis of a condylar hyperplasia that underwent scintigraphy and SPECT with 99mTc. We considered positive an increased uptake at the condylar head and was classified in three levels of intensity. All cases underwent surgery performing a condylar shave. They were histologically studied and findings were classified according to the degree of growth. We performed a statistical correlation between the data obtained from planar scintigraphy, SPECT and histological analysis.

The SPECT was positive in all 37 patients showing a homogeneous distribution among the different degrees of intensity. The diagnosis of condylar hyperplasia was confirmed in all cases with histological analysis. The sensitivity of SPECT in our study for the identification of condylar hyperplasia was 100%, higher than the plannar. Both tests showed a good correlation in terms of activity levels with pathologic findings.

For the planning of surgical treatment is necessary to confirm the activity and the degree of progression of disease. SPECT is a simple test with high sensitivity that allows the identification of those cases and to correlate their findings with the degree of activity.

Conflict of interest: None declared.