DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF CLINICO-RADIOLOGICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL EXAMINATION IN CHRONIC PERI-APICAL PATHOLOGIES

Abstract

 Objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of clinico-radiological and histological examination in chronic peri-apical pathologies.

Observational cross sectional study was carried out in the histopathology laboratory of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH). Peri-apical Tissue samples from 100 patients with chronic inflammatory peri-apical pathologies diagnosed clinico-radiologically were collected after extraction of affected teeth. These samples were subsequently processed and stained with eosin and hemotoxylin staining for histological assessment. The patients age and gender distribution along with the relationship of clinico-radiological and histological diagnosis of these pathologies were analyzed by applying chi square test. Statistical significance was set at ? 0.05.

The clinical and radiological diagnosis of 15% of cases concluded by various dentists was incorrect. Of those, 14% diagnosed previously as peri-apical granulomas were actually radicular cysts while 1% were apical scars (p < 0.05).

Histological examination of chronic peri-apical pathologies must be performed along with clinico-radiological examination in order to reach accurate diagnosis.