ABSTRACT
The management of complicated non-union of free flap osteotomy sites is both challenging and time consuming. If external fixation has been applied it may be difficult to know when sufficient bone union has occurred for safe removal of the fixation device. The progression of bony healing is conventionally monitored with radiographs or occasionally computed tomography (CT). Transcutaneous ultrasound is a simple, safe, and readily available investigation that gives early objective evidence of bone healing, reassuring both the patient and the surgeon.
Subject(s)
Fracture Healing , Fractures, Ununited/diagnostic imaging , Mandibular Fractures/diagnostic imaging , Adult , Bony Callus/diagnostic imaging , Female , Fracture Healing/physiology , Free Tissue Flaps , Humans , Mandibular Neoplasms/surgery , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Because of its locally invasive nature, Because of its locally invasive nature, the recurrence rates for ameloblastoma after treatment are rather high. Recurrence also seems to depend on the histologic type of the tumor and the treatment modalities used. Thus, curettage alone is reported to have led to a 90% recurrence rate for mandibular tumors and a 100% recurrence rate for maxillary tumors in one report. In a subsample of 327 cases in a large study, a 17.7% recurrence rate was noted after radical treatment and a rate of 22.6% was noted after conservative treatment; granular and follicular variants of ameloblastomas were noted to recur more frequently than the plexiform type. Most recurrences occur at the site of the primary tumor. However, lesions are also known to recur in bone grafts, and rarely, recurrence involves adjacent soft tissues. We present an unusual case of an ameloblatoma that originates in the right mandibular body and ramus that recurred 4 years after radical surgical excision via extension into the right temporal region, causing facial deformity.
