In vivo study of cone beam computed tomography texture analysis of mandibular condyle and its correlation with gender and age

OBJECTIVE

Texture analysis is an image processing method that aims to assess the distribution of gray-level intensity and spatial organization of the pixels in the image. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the texture analysis applied to cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images could detect variation in the condyle trabecular bone of individuals from different age groups and genders.

METHODS

The sample consisted of imaging exams from 63 individuals divided into three groups according to age groups of 03-13, 14-24 and 25-34. For texture analysis, the MaZda^® software was used to extract the following parameters: second angular momentum, contrast, correlation, sum of squares, inverse difference moment, sum entropy and entropy. Statistical analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney test for gender and Kruskal-Wallis test for age (P = 5%).

RESULTS

No statistically significant differences were found between age groups for any of the parameters. Males had lower values for the parameter correlation than those of females (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Texture analysis proved to be useful to discriminate mandibular condyle trabecular bone between genders.

Texture analysis of cone beam computed tomography images reveals dental implant stability

The aim of this study was to characterize the alveolar bone of edentulous maxillary sites using texture analysis (TA) of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images and to correlate the results to the insertion torque, thus verifying whether TA is a predictive tool of final implant treatment. This study was conducted on patients who had received single implants in the maxilla (46 implants) 1year earlier and whose torque values were properly recorded. Three cross-sections of the sites were selected on CBCT scans. Two regions of interest (ROIs) corresponding to the implant bone site and peri-implant bone were also outlined, according to virtual planning. The CBCT scans were exported to MaZda software, where the two ROIs were delimited following the previously demarcated contours. Values for the co-occurrence matrix were calculated for TA. With regard to the insertion torque value, there was a direct correlation with the contrast of the peri-implant bone (P<0.001) and an inverse correlation with the entropy of the implant bone site (P=0.006). A greater contrast indicates a greater torque value for insertion of the implants, and there is a possible association with a lower entropy value of the implant-bone interface.