Diagnostic of craniofacial asymmetry. Literature review

Facial asymmetry is a common feature in many syndromes, and requires surgery as the only valid treatment option. Routine diagnostic methods (frontal RX, panoramic RX and submentovertex RX) have serious limitations mainly due to the transfer from a three dimensional image to a two dimensional plane. The feasibility of such methods is poorly supported due to inherent projection errors (image magnification, cranial rotation) and identification errors (image quality, precision and reproducibility). The use of computer tomographies represents a substantial improvement in the sense of skeletal and soft tissue structures' reproduction precision. The interpretation of this new data source makes evident the necessity of new analysis tools for extraction, manipulation and synthesization of the whole diagnostic and therapeutical potential based on more solid studies in this field.