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The impact of intrabony lesion size on biopsy preference among oral and maxillofacial surgeons
Author(s) -
Johnson N.R.,
Savage N.W.,
Kazoullis S.,
Batstone M.D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
oral surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.156
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1752-248X
pISSN - 1752-2471
DOI - 10.1111/ors.12000
Subject(s) - medicine , incisional biopsy , biopsy , lesion , radiology , cone beam computed tomography , dentistry , surgery , computed tomography
Aim The management of intrabony lesions of the jaws may be markedly different depending on the exact nature of the pathology. The precise role of a biopsy prior to surgical treatment of mandibular radiolucencies remains controversial. This study aims to document the biopsy practice of oral and maxillofacial surgeons for intrabony lesions of the jaws. Materials and methods A survey was mailed to all A ustralian full or associate members of the A ustralian and N ew Z ealand A ssociation of O ral and M axillofacial S urgeons. The first part asked questions in relation to demographic data. The second part asked members to examine orthopantomograms of two different lesions and which, if any, biopsy technique would be used prior to management. Data were analysed using a chi‐square test. Results Eighty six of 136 (63.2%) surveys were returned. Only 10.0% of respondents indicated that they would perform a diagnostic incisional biopsy prior to removing the smaller lesion compared with 88.0% of respondents for the larger lesion ( P ‐value < 0.01). Fine needle aspiration biopsy was only used to exclude vascular lesions by a minority of members. Further investigations would be requested by more than 80.0% of surgeons, with the most popular being three‐dimensional imaging such as computed tomography or cone beam computed tomography. Conclusion The use of a preoperative biopsy is not consistent between lesions of different sizes, with the use of fine needle aspiration biopsy continuing to be advocated to exclude vascular lesions. This is despite the widely different management required for various lesions of the jaws that may be identical on imaging.