Surgical treatment of a rare bilateral synovial chondromatosis

Synovial chondromatosis (SC) in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is an uncommon entity, mostly when the involvement is bilateral. The authors report a rare case of bilateral SC, with a follow-up of 13 months, and a literature review. A 60-year-old Caucasian woman, with the chief complaint of pain for 6 years in the bilateral pre-auricular region, had a progressive clacking and discomfort on the left side during mouth opening. The panoramic image was suggestive of SC. The bilateral lesion was surgically removed by direct access. Histopathological examination confirmed the clinical diagnosis of bilateral SC. This article shows the importance of a multidisciplinary approach for the early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Also, it encourages the referral of such cases to professionals with a greater familiarity with this entity.

Fibrous Dysplasia treated with virtual planning ­ report of two cases

Fibrous dysplasia (FD) is part of a rare group of bone dysplasia. It exhibits benign behavior and can lead to osteolytic lesions, deformities, and fractures. The treatment is challenging, and accurate removal of the lesion is necessary to restore function and esthetics. Here we present two cases of FD where virtual planning with presurgical computed tomography (CT) was used for the production of a surgical guide for bone contouring. First, CT image reconstruction was performed to mirror the patient's original anatomy. Then, three surgical guides that determined the area and depth of bone wear were prepared and used in the relevant sequence during the actual surgeries, which were successfully performed in both patients. This technique is termed the template guide holes (TGH) technique. The findings from this report suggest that presurgical virtual planning and guide preparation allows direct and objective measurement of the level of bone wear and improves the functional and esthetic outcomes of surgery for FD. In particular, the TGH technique is safe and allows adequate preoperative surgical simulation, reduces the surgical duration, and increases the predictability of the final result.