CT in facial trauma.

Recent advances in high resolution CT imaging have provided marked improvement in bone imaging. Complex facial fractures, especially those associated with craniocerebral or spinal injuries, are better and more safely assessed by CT. Degrees of comminution, previously grossly underestimated by conventional radiography, are more accurately assessed by CT. The transaxial axis remains the dominant modality and superbly demonstrates displacements. Complications to soft tissue structures (orbit, brain) are diagnosed at the time of study and provide information often not obtainable by other modalities. High resolution CT has become our definitive study of complex facial fractures involving the mid or upper thirds of the facial skeleton.