Radiographic validation of manual functional analysis of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis

The finding of osteoarthritis of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) obtained by clinical diagnosis, i.e. manual functional analysis (MFA) and the finding obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the gold standard were compared in 30 patients (mean age 52.6) diagnosed with osteoarthritis, selected out of 140 consecutive patients diagnosed with a TMJ disorder by MRI. The clinical parameters were symptoms of pain in the TMJ region, crepitations, and absence of clicking, which was confirmed by manual examinations as part of MFA. A positive MRI finding included flattening, subchondral degenerative changes with or without intact cortical bone, osteophytes and subchondral degenerative cysts of joint surfaces. The validity of MFA for osteoarthritis was as follows: sensitivity 0.38, specificity 0.91, positive predictive value (PPV) 0.77 and negative predictive value (NPV) 0.65. MRI examination revealed disk displacement (DD) without reduction in 12 (40.00%) patients and DD with reduction in one (3.33%) patient. The finding of passive compressions for the osteoarthritis diagnosis depending on DD showed sensitivity of 0.29, specificity of 0.95, PPV 0.67 and NPV 0.78. Although MFA significantly improves validity of clinical diagnosis when differentiating a myogenic from TMJ disorder, clinical determination of osteoarthritis is not satisfactory. Nonspecific clinical signs and symptoms accompanied by predominant pain in the TMJ on dynamic but not on passive manual examinations cannot help differentiate DD from osteoarthritis.