Enormous aneurysmal bone cyst of the mandible: case report and radiologic-pathologic correlation

A 33-year-old patient with a huge aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) was imaged using cone-beam CT, MRI, and angiography. ABC is an uncommon non-neoplastic, expansile lesion of bone. Although common in the appendicular skeleton and spine, only 2% of the lesions occur in the craniofacial skeleton. The plain radiographic features of gnathic ABC may show an omni-expansile unilocular or multilocular radiolucency. Fluid-fluid levels have been reported in cystic compartments of ABCs; however, this feature is not diagnostically specific for ABC. In this article, we present a case of a rapidly growing, extraordinarily large ABC of the posterior mandible, with emphasis on comparative imaging features of this lesion in cone-beam CT, MRI, and carotid angiography.