Computed tomography (CT), CT-sialography and ultrasonography (US) were performed in 3 cases of static bone cavity.
1. Axial CT sections clearly demonstrated defects of the lingual cortex of the mandible.
2. In all three cases, CT-sialography clearly showed a lobulated submandibular gland which occupied the bone defect.
3. US performed in two of the patients, clearly detected the bone defect. The contents in the bone defect were also clearly detected; the internal echo of the contents was hyperechoic and heterogeneous. US was thereby confirmed to be a useful examination for this disease.
Both CT-sialography and convertional sialography were performed in one case to compare differences in the resulting images. Convertional sialography did not clearly demonstrate the spatial relationship between the submandibular gland and bone defect in contrast to CT-sialography. We attributed this difference to mandibular position during the X-ray.
One case in which the buccal cortex at the lesion was thin and distended underwent surgery. The intraoperative and histopathological findings were found to match the diagnostic imagings.
