R A Couture1, C Hildebolt. 1. Washington University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this report are to present a quantitative model for digital oral radiography and to evaluate a new photostimulable phosphor system for bone mass measurements. STUDY DESIGN: Noise, linearity, and precision were measured from stepwedge images and blank images through use of a special least-squares calibration method. The model was used to estimate lower limits of detection for observing small changes in bone mineral content. RESULTS: The response was virtually linear, and the noise level of 2% to 3% is less than that of digitized film images. The precision of measurements averaged over a region of interest was generally better than 0.5%. CONCLUSIONS: If the scatter fraction is measured for each patient, bone loss can be measured by using only extraoral standards. Assuming a scatter fraction of 50% and considering only instrumental errors, the detection limit is <0.02 g/cm(2) for large image areas (> or =7 mm(2)) and <0.3 mg over areas of 1 mm(2) or smaller.
OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this report are to present a quantitative model for digital oral radiography and to evaluate a new photostimulable phosphor system for bone mass measurements. STUDY DESIGN: Noise, linearity, and precision were measured from stepwedge images and blank images through use of a special least-squares calibration method. The model was used to estimate lower limits of detection for observing small changes in bone mineral content. RESULTS: The response was virtually linear, and the noise level of 2% to 3% is less than that of digitized film images. The precision of measurements averaged over a region of interest was generally better than 0.5%. CONCLUSIONS: If the scatter fraction is measured for each patient, bone loss can be measured by using only extraoral standards. Assuming a scatter fraction of 50% and considering only instrumental errors, the detection limit is <0.02 g/cm(2) for large image areas (> or =7 mm(2)) and <0.3 mg over areas of 1 mm(2) or smaller.
Authors: Charles F Hildebolt; Rex Couture; Nathalia M Garcia; Debra Dixon; D Doug Miley; William Shannon; Cheryl Mueller; Eric Langenwalter; Cathy Anderson Spearie; R Civitelli Journal: Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod Date: 2009-09