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. 2022 Aug 13;22(1):145.
doi: 10.1186/s12880-022-00850-1.

Determining the existence of the foramen of Huschke in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders using cone beam computed tomography: retrospective cohort study

Mahvash Hasani  1 , Abdolaziz Haghnegahdar  1 , Leila Khojastepour  1 , Mohammad Javad Golbahar Haghighi  2
Affiliations

Determining the existence of the foramen of Huschke in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders using cone beam computed tomography: retrospective cohort study

Mahvash Hasani et al. BMC Med Imaging. .

Abstract

Background: Foramen of Huschke has been presented as an unusual developmental defect in anteroinferior aspect of external auditory canal. It can be associated with significant otologic complications. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between existence of foramen of Huschke and temporomandibular joint disorders in Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) images.

Methods: Of an initial sample of 465 patients, we retrospectively evaluated the CBCT images of 118 individuals with clinical signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorders as case group and 256 individuals as control group. The presence, size and localization of foramen of Huschke were assessed in the axial and corrected sagittal images. The sex and age distribution were determined. Fisher's exact test, T-test and Pearson's Chi-square were applied to assess the relationship between foramen of Huschke and temporomandibular joint disorders in the case and control groups considering age and sex.

Results: The foramen of Huschke prevalence was slightly higher in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (3.4%) than patients without temporomandibular joint disorders (0.8%). However, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.082). foramen of Huschke was found in five females and one male. There was no significant difference between case and control groups considering the age of patients with foramen of Huschke (P = 0.683). There was no significant difference between the case and control groups, considering the right and left ears in distribution of foramen of Huschke (P = 0.099) (P = 0.183).

Conclusions: Higher prevalence of foramen of Huschke in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders may suggest possible mechanism for temporomandibular joint disorders development that can be affected by presence of foramen of Huschke.

Keywords: Cone beam computed tomography; External auditory canal; Foramen of Huschke; Temporomandibular disorders.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
FH (white arrow) in the sagittal image (A), in the axial image (B)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The dimension of FH in the sagittal image (A) and axial image (B)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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