title: Ultrasound examination with color power Doppler to assess the early response of apical periodontitis to the endodontic treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to assess the possibility to detect early vascular changes in apical periodontitis (AP) using ultrasound examination with color power Doppler (US-CPD) and to establish a correlation between the early response of AP to treatment and its potential healing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one apical lesions were visualized with US-CPD before endodontic treatment, 1 week after the first access to endodontic system and 4 weeks after root canal obturation. A differential diagnosis between cystic lesions (CLs) and granulomatous lesions (GLs) was attempted. The vascular modifications were then correlated with long-term radiographic follow-up using Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The decrease or disappearance of vascular flow observed in AP 4 weeks after root canal obturation was significantly related to a healing trend (p = 0.0206) of the lesions. Combining the data with preoperative US-CPD diagnosis showed a reproducibility for GLs only (p = 0.0022).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed the possibility to detect early vascular changes in AP using US-CPD, correlating them with a healing trend after endodontic treatment. Future investigations should be conducted and more attention should be dedicated to the potential of this alternative and biologically safe imaging technique.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  US-CPD in endodontics may be a helpful tool to identify healing processes after endodontic treatment and to understand the behavior of different forms of AP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. cottiend@tin.it.|Department of Endodontics and Conservative Dentistry, University of Cagliari, Via Roma #149, 09124, Cagliari, Italy. cottiend@tin.it.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano Andrea
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Musu
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Girolamo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Campisi
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontology, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hagay
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shemesh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010485:Periapical Periodontitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy*; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D014945:Wound Healing
keywords: Apical periodontitis; Color power Doppler; Healing; Ultrasound examination