An evaluation of radiographic and histopathological findings in periapical lesions

In this study of 108 periapical lesions, the incidence, the relation of lesion size to the incidence, the diagnosis and the correspondence between radiographic and histopathologic diagnoses were investigated. We have found that the incidence of periapical granulomas was 53.7%. The incidence of cystic formations within an apical granuloma was 16.7% and the incidence of radicular cysts was 25.9%. It was established that the incidence of radicular cysts rose as the extent of the lesion increased and that the incidence of radicular cysts was 100% when the lesion size was 200 mm2 or more. The X-ray findings were in correspondence with the histopathological diagnosis in only 66.6% of cases and it was concluded that radiography alone was insufficient to make a differential diagnosis of periapical lesions.