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. 2023 Mar 29;52(4):20220333. doi: 10.1259/dmfr.20220333

Table 7.

MRI to display the course of the inferior alveolar nerve. Technical information is given in Supplementary Table 7.

Authors Study design/subjects Research questions Findings
Chau et al. 2012 51 11 participants Comparison of the detection of the IAN by different examiners on CBCT and MRI

  • Higher detectability of IAN in MRI compared to CBCT;

  • difficulty to differentiate IAN from surrounding bone marrow in ramus region;

  • interobserver reliability for MRI high despite of inexperience of examiners
Kreutner et al. 2017 52 7 participants Comparison of two MRI protocols for the accuracy and reproducibility of the detection of the IAN by different examiners; accuracy of segmentation of IAN

  • 1 examination out of 14 discarded due to motion artefact;

  • TSE and VIBE sequences yield comparable results for IAN segmentation,

  • high intra- and interobserver agreement,

  • deviations between segmentations in the order of interpolated voxel size (0.25 mm3)
Probst et al. 2017 53 7 participants Assessment of artefact size in MRI using different sequences and display of IAN

  • Inferior alveolar nerve detectable with most of the presented protocols

  • VAT and SEMAC were eligible for artefact reduction
Deepho et al. 2017 55 49 patients Comparison of detection of IAN in fusion images MRI/CT and CT images as assessed by different examiners

  • High inter- and intrarater agreement for identification of IAN in MRI and CT;

  • 3D VIBE images displayed almost all structures of the mandible; despite alveolar crest and interalveolar bone

  • fusion of 3D VIBE MRI and CT improves detectability of IAN
Beck et al. 2021 57 53 patients Comparison of detection of IAN and third molars in MRI and CT/CBCT by different examiners

  • IAN, teeth, cortical bone, pulp chamber, periodontal ligament, arterial rami, dental follicles were displayed with MRI;

  • good interrater agreement for the course of IAN (interrater κ = 0.74, intrarater: κ = 0.74)
Al/Haj Husain et al. 2021 56 19 patients (30.5 ± 13 y) Evaluation of intraosseus position of IAN using MRI (3D-DESS)

  • Highest localisation probability of IAN in central segments of the mandible within the osseus canal compared to the lateral segments of IAC

CBCT, cone-beam CT; 3D VIBE, three-dimensional volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination; IAC, internal auditory canal; IAN, inferior alveolar nerve; SEMAC, slice-encoding for metal artefact correction.