title: Imaging findings of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws: a critical review of the quantitative studies.
abstract: Objectives. This paper offers a critical review of published information on the imaging strategies used for diagnosing bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) in patients taking intravenous bisphosphonates, pointing at the different methodologies and results of existing literature. Methods. Electronic literature search was performed in order to identify as many quantitative studies that discussed the imaging findings of BRONJ up to February 2014. Initially, the search for articles was based on the following four types of imaging modalities for evaluating BRONJ: computed tomography, plain film radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear bone scanning. Results. Eleven out of the 79 initially selected articles met the inclusion criteria. Most of the selected articles were cross-sectional studies. Regarding the selected studies, 54.5% have used plain films radiographs and 54.5% were based on computed tomography findings. All of the selected studies showed a small number of patients and none of the selected studies have tested the accuracy of the imaging examination for evaluating BRONJ. Conclusions. This critical review showed a scarcity of quantitative studies that analyzed the typical imaging findings related to BRONJ. Further studies are necessary in order to analyze the role of different imaging techniques in the assessment of BRONJ.
authors.affiliation: Oral Radiology, Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Science, University of Brasília, Campus Universitario Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, 70910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil.
authors.forename: André Ferreira
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.affiliation: University of Brasília, Campus Universitario Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, 70910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Dos Santos
authors.initials: Fdos S
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.affiliation: Oral Pathology, Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Science, University of Brasília, Campus Universitario Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, 70910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nilce Santos
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: de Melo
authors.affiliation: Oral Radiology, Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Science, University of Brasília, Campus Universitario Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, 70910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo Tadeu de Souza
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Figueiredo