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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
A Morphometric and Cellular Analysis Method for the Murine Mandibular Condyle
Published on: January 11, 2018
Virtual arthroscopy of the visible human female temporomandibular joint
1University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, USA. tishimar@po.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
Purpose:
This study was designed to obtain views of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) by means of computed arthroscopic simulation (virtual arthroscopy) using three-dimensional (3D) processing.
Material And Methods:
Volume renderings of the TMJ from very thin cryosection slices of the Visible Human Female were taken off the Internet. Analyze(AVW) software (Biomedical Imaging Resource, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN) on a Silicon Graphics 02 workstation (Mountain View, CA) was then used to obtain 3D images and allow the navigation "fly-through" of the simulated joint.
Results:
Good virtual arthroscopic views of the upper and lower joint spaces of both TMJs were obtained by fly-through simulation from the lateral and endaural sides. It was possible to observe the presence of a partial defect in the articular disc and an osteophyte on the condyle. Virtual arthroscopy provided visualization of regions not accessible to real arthroscopy.
Conclusion:
These results indicate that virtual arthroscopy will be a new technique to investigate the TMJ of the patient with TMJ disorders in the near future.
