Prevalence of osteoma cutis in the maxillofacial region and classification of its radiographic pattern in cone beam CT

Abstract

Osteoma cutis is a rare soft tissue ossification of cutaneous tissue and may be primaryor secondary. In the majorityof cases it is clinically asymptomatic and may detected incidentally on radiographic examination.Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has can be of great assistance in the detection of thisasymptomatic lesion. In this retrospective study, the prevalence and different radiographic appearance ofosteoma cutis was evaluated. A total of 6,500 CBCT images were evaluated for the presence of osteomacutis. Ectopic existence of calcified tissue within the soft tissue of the dermis or epidermis thatwas incompatible with the calcification of other anatomic structures or soft tissue calcificationswas considered to be osteoma cutis. Accordingly, the detected patterns were divided into fourdistinct groups: (1) a single nodule, (2) plate-like lesion, (3) single or multiple depthlesion(s), trans-epidermal, and (4) multiple, disseminated lesions of various sizes known asmultiple miliary. The data were evaluated in terms of prevalence and variations. The frequency,total prevalence, percentage and the prevalence of different radiographic forms of this lesion werecalculated. One hundred and forty eight (2.27%) cases of 6,500 evaluated tomograms had osteoma cutis.Of these, 5 (0.07%) were in the form of a single nodule, 4 (0.06%) were single, plate-like lesions,7 (0.1%) were multiple plate-like lesions, 2 (0.03%) were in the form of a deep thread-like lesion,and 130 (2%) presented as multiple disseminated lesions. According to the radiographic views, osteoma cutis may be categorized into singlenodular, single or multiple plate- like, deep, and multiple disseminated forms. Of the mentionedradiogarphic patterns, the multiple disseminated form (miliary) hada higher prevalence in our study. CBCT images enable accurate evaluation of the nature andfrequency of osteoma cutis.