Abstract
As ameloblastoma almost always arises in the intraosseous maxillomandibular region, inspection and palpation are not effective in the diagnosis.
In the clinical practice guideline for ameloblastoma, intraoral radiography, CT, and MRI are useful diagnostic modalities overall. However, it is necessary to use the diagnostic modality in different ways depending upon the situation of the patient.
This guideline demonstrated that the discrimination of ameloblastoma from keratocystic odontogenic tumor, dentigerous cyst, and radicular cyst is important in clinical image diagnosis.
Regarding the relationship between image findings and prognosis, the recurrence ratio of multicystic ameloblastoma is higher than that of the unicystic type. Moreover, the prognosis of malignant ameloblastomas is generally poor.
Malignant ameloblastomas are divided into two types, metastasizing ameloblastoma and ameloblastic carcinoma. Metastasizing ameloblastoma showed benign findings on the images but metastasized to other organs. In ameloblastic carcinoma, bone destruction and invasion into surrounding tissues were generally seen on the images.
