Osteonecrosis of the jaw: radiographic appearance

This is a section from a CT scan of a 72-year-old woman with multiple myeloma treated with monthly bisphosphonate injections. She complained of left-sided jaw pain and swelling following dental extraction. This coronal view of the mandible shows several areas of disruption of cortical bone (arrows), a pathologic fracture line (arrowhead), and a large area of central bone loss (dashed arrow) suggestive of tumor and/or abscess formation.