title: Prevalence and characteristics of pneumatized articular tubercle: First large series in Iranian people.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of pneumatized articular tubercle or eminence among a defined group of Iranian people.
  
  
  METHODS
  Digital panoramic radiographs of 1694 patients in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Hamadan Dental School, Iran were evaluated retrospectively to detect the above lesion. Finally, 1563 radiographs were selected according to inclusion criteria. Then, a review was done of 10 large case series found using a MEDLINE search of the literature. Chi-squared test was used to analyze the differences in variables such as age, gender, laterality, and locularity in our case series.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of our samples was 32.6±7.63 years. Pneumatized articular tubercle was found in 98 cases, representing a prevalence of 6.2% with a mean age of 22.8±7.9 and a range of 8 to 60 years. Sixty-four (65.3%) pneumatized articular tubercles were unilateral, with 30 lesions on the right and 34 on the left side. Bilateral lesions were found in 34 (34.7%) patients. 52 (53.06%) of the pneumatized articular tubercles were of the unilocular type and 46 (46.94%) were multilocular. The results showed no statistically significant differences regarding age (p=0.454), gender (p=0.634), laterality (p=0.252), or locularity (p=0.807) among the samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among ten large case series from other countries, the prevalence of pneumatized articular tubercle (6.2%) in Iranian patients was higher than that of all eight of the case series that used the same detection method as the present study of panoramic radiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Dental School, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shokri
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Dental School, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Maruf
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Noruzi-Gangachin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baharvand
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mortazavi
keywords: Iran; Mastoid; Temporal Bone; Tubercle