Introduction:

Ossifying fibroma (OF) and fibrous dysplasia (FD) have similar imaging and histopathological characteristics, which make differential diagnosis difficult. The aim of this narrative review was to analyze the clinical, epidemiological and imaging characteristics of OF and FD, as well as to evaluate the relationship between imaging characteristics and histopathologic variants of OF, in reports and case series published.

Materials and methods:

A search of reports and case series of OF and FD between 2017-2021 in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science was performed. The cases had to have enough clinical, epidemiological, histopathological and imaging information.

Results:

23 articles with 25 lesions were included: 17 OF and 8 FD. FD had a longer time of evolution than OF. OF is more likely to be in osteomeatal complex compared to FD. Only OF had skin alterations, peripheral radiolucency/hypodensity, bone perforation and external root resorption, in addition, it had a greater tendency to advance to adjacent anatomical spaces and generate facial and/or cranial asymmetry. Psammomatoid OF and trabecular OF share imaging patterns and have defined and corticated margins. Conventional OF had a greater tendency to cortical perforation. DF can have ill-defined and defined and corticated margins. OF has imaging characteristics of greater aggressiveness than FD.

Conclusion:

Histology and imaging alone are not decisive in OF and FD diagnosis. It is essential to consider clinical, imaging and histopathological evaluations as a whole, emphasizing in the characteristics that guide the differential diagnosis.

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