Study on the Carotid Artery Calcification Appearing on the Panoramic Radiography and Computed Tomography

The panoramic radiography taken for the dental treatment sometimes shows carotid artery calcification and it is known that the carotid artery calcification is associated with the onset of vascular disorder. In this regard, this study focused on the right/left difference in the carotid artery calcification showed by panoramic radiography and CT. The subjects of this study were 119 patients in the 5th to the 10th decade whose carotid artery calcification was confirmed by panoramic radiography and CT from August 2004 to June 2018 at Matsumoto Dental University Hospital. We investigated whether carotid artery calcification between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae can be detected using panoramic imaging. At the same time, the presence or absence of calcification image around the third and fourth cervical vertebrae was also investigated on the basis of axial CT image. The results indicated the following. As to the gender difference, the males demonstrated a slightly higher ratio of calcification in comparison with the females (10:9). As to the age distribution, a tendency of increase in calcification was noted in the 7th decade and over and the ratio was the highest in the 8th decade (42 cases). As to the right/left difference in the 119 patients, there were 67 patients with bilateral calcification and 52 patients with unilateral calcification (24 on the left side and 28 on the right side), indicating hardly any right/left difference. Regarding to the right/left prevalence, in the 7th decade and over had bilateral calcification accounted for 50% and over. On the other hand, calcification was more frequently observed on the right side in the 6th decade in the males as well as in the females. These results suggest that there is the different of unilateral (right/left difference) or bilateral carotid artery calcification by generation.