Reliability and accuracy of three imaging software packages used for 3D analysis of the upper airway on cone-beam computed tomography images.

Reliability and accuracy of three imaging software packages used for 3D analysis of the upper airway on cone-beam computed tomography images.

Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2017 May 03;:20170043

Authors: Chen H, van Eijnatten M, Wolff J, de Lange J, van der Stelt PF, Lobbezoo F, Aarab G

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and accuracy of three different imaging software packages for three-dimensional analysis of the upper airway using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images.
METHODS: To assess the reliability of the software packages, fifteen NewTom 5G CBCT datasets were randomly and retrospectively selected. Two observers measured the volume, minimum cross-sectional area, and length of the upper airway using Amira(®), 3Diagnosys(®), and Ondemand3D(®) software packages. The intra- and inter-observer reliability of the upper airway measurements were determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland & Altman agreement tests. To assess the accuracy of the software packages, one NewTom 5G CBCT dataset was used to print a 3D anthropomorphic phantom with known dimensions to be used as the "gold standard". This phantom was subsequently scanned using a NewTom 5G scanner. Based on the CBCT dataset of the phantom, one observer measured the volume, minimum cross-sectional area, and length of the upper airway using Amira(®), 3Diagnosys(®), and Ondemand3D(®), and compared these measurements with the gold standard.
RESULTS: The intra- and inter-observer reliability of the measurements of the upper airway using the different software packages were excellent (ICC ≥ 0.75). There was excellent agreement between all three software packages in volume, minimum cross-sectional area and length measurements. All software packages underestimated the upper airway volume by -8.8% to -12.3%, the minimum cross-sectional area by -6.2% to -14.6%, and the length by -1.6% to -2.9%.
CONCLUSION: All three software packages offered reliable volume, minimum cross-sectional area and length measurements of the upper airway. The length measurements of the upper airway were the most accurate results in all software packages. All software packages underestimated the upper airway dimensions of the anthropomorphic phantom.

PMID: 28467118 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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