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In the radiologic examination of trismus complicating cancrum oris, abnormalities can be detected in the soft tissues, osseous tissues, and temporomandibular joint. In the soft tissue, scar formation may show as a depression in the normal smooth, convex contour of the lateral aspect of the face. There may be a myositis ossificans in the soft tissue, producing bony bars that lead to extra-articular ankylosis. By far the most important changes are in the temporomandibular joint, where there can be varying degrees of joint narrowing, sclerosis of the articular cortex, flattening of the mandibular condyle and occasionally also of the eminentia articularis, osteophytosis, and intra-articular bony ankylosis. Hypoplasia may involve the entire hemimandible or be restricted to its condyloid process. The latter may lead to compensatory enlongation and hypertrophy of the coronoid process. Bony ankylosis of the coronoid process to the posterior wall of the maxilla was seen in three cases. The pathogenesis of these changes is discussed.

The records of sixteen patients under 18 years of age with ameloblastoma of the jaws treated at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, within the last 10 years were examined. In fifteen of the sixteen cases, the tumor was found in the mandible, with the symphysis being affected in seven cases. The ease with which the monocystic type of the tumor may be confused with a dentigerous cyst is pointed out. The different methods of treatment of ameloblastoma of the jaws in children are discussed.

The clinicoradiologic features and surgical treatment of fibrous dysplasia of the jaws in forty-seven Nigerian patients are described. Marked facial deformity and functional disturbances were the main indications for operation. We noticed one case of malignant transformation. It is our opinion that a more-than-usual aggressive excision is indicated in Nigerian patients.

The radiographs of twenty-five patients (eight males, seventeen females) with histologically proven craniofacial fibrous dysplasia were analyzed. The lesions could be classified into six radiologic types: (1) peau d'orange, (2) whorled plaquelike, (3) diffuse sclerotic, (4) cystlike (multilocular or unilocular), (5) pagetoid, and (6) chalky types. The peau d'orange type was by far the most common (40 per cent) followed by the plaquelike (20 per cent, cystlike (16 per cent), and sclerotic (12 per cent). Most of the patients were young, with 60 per cent being underthe age of 20 years and 96 per cent under the age of 40 years.

There is no good evidence on clinical grounds for any definite differentiation between keloids and hypertrophic scars, employing any of the numerous parameters. Incidence and theories of keloid formation are presented at length with a chemo-therapeutic regimen.

A case of well-formed post-traumatic exostosis arising from bone chips at the site of a fractured proximal phalanx, two years after grenade injuries at the Nigerian civil war has been described. The result was likened to the “take” of an autogenous bone graft. The role of the periosteum at the affected site in acting as a limiting membrane with the power of osteogenesis and modelling, was considered in its genesis.

Summary Osteogenic sarcoma is a relatively rare tumour of the jaw. Seven cases seen within a periodof 14 years in our hospital are presented. The diagnosis and treatment of osteogenic sarcoma of the jaws are briefly discussed.

SUMMARY It is important to emphasize that basal cell carcinoma occurs in black Africans, a fact denied in some reports. The present study shows that the disease appears to behave more aggressively in the African, particularly in albinos, than in Caucasians. In albinos preventive measures should be employed regularly.

Summary The pattern of oral cancer in a Nigerian population is described. Unlike the benign tumours of the jaws, this disease is relatively rare. It is, however, invariably lethal, mostly as a result of late presentation by the patients. At the present time, no aetiological factor can be identified amongst the population.

Radiology plays an important role in preoperative diagnosis and postoperative assessment of ameloblastoma. The postoperative appearances, including complications as well as radiologic features of recurrence, are discussed. The differential diagnosis of the unilocular lesion is difficult, and particularly noteworthy are the five cases of histologically proven adamantinoma whose radiographic appearance closely mimicked dentigerous cyst.

A case of cystic hygroma of the tunica vaginalis testis is described. It was discovered in the differential diagnosis of multiple painless lumps in the scrotum. Its relationship with retroperitoneal lymphatic cysts as well as the nomenclature of these hamartomas is discussed. Treatment was by excision.