Case report

Report on a Stafne Defect in a Man From Medieval Age

Report of a Case

The skeletal remains of an adult individual were exhumed from a twelfth century necropolis pertaining to the Visigothic-Romanesque churches of Sant Pere de Terrassa (Barcelona, Spain).2, 3 The skeleton corresponds to a male between 40 and 50 years of age. His gender was determined by the morphologic characteristics of the cranium, mandible, and, especially, the coxal bone.⁴ The age estimate was taken from morphologic changes in the pubic symphysis and auricular surface of the ilium,⁵ as well as

Discussion

Bone defects in the mandible have been described using different terms since Stafne, in 1942, reported on 35 radiolucent lesions in the mandibular angle.⁹ Most of these nomenclatures refer to the morphology or etiology of the defect.¹⁰

The mandibular bone concavity shows characteristic morphology; the cortex is intact and invaginated into the medullar space.¹¹ This particular feature shows that the Stafne bone “cyst” is not a true cyst. The term cyst reflects the initial description of

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Dr Conde Vidal (Facultat d’Odontologia, Universitat de Barcelona) for radiologic images.