Detection of medial arterial calcification on CBCT images of a patient with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus: a case report.

The finding of medial arterial calcification (MAC) on cone beam computed tomographic scans is more common than many clinicians realize. Medial arterial calcification is a specific pattern of vascular calcification that has been associated with diabetes mellitus. When MAC is identified on a scan, the clinician must refer the patient for evaluation of cardiovascular accident risk and for serologic evaluation to detect undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus. This case report describes a patient with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus that was later confirmed by hemoglobin A levels after incidental detection of MAC on cone beam computed tomography. The article also reviews the literature on MAC and its relationship with diabetes and discusses radiographic features of MAC that are often unrecognized by clinicians.