Arponen H, Elf H, Evälahti M, Waltimo-Sirén J
Department of Orthodontics, Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Orthod Craniofac Res. 2008 Nov;11(4):201-10. doi: 10.1111/j.1601-6343.2008.00431.x.
To explore the reliability of identification of anatomic landmarks on lateral skull radiographs of young unaffected individuals that has conventionally been used to diagnose pathologic relationships in the craniovertebral junction.
From the Helsinki longitudinal growth study, 20 randomly selected lateral radiographs were analyzed and re-analyzed by two examiners. Both located seven cephalometric landmarks based on which five measurements were calculated. The differences of results were compared. With similar method three radiographs were analysed by 11 examiners and results were compared.
Some anatomic landmarks were easier to locate than others on lateral skull radiographs leading to differences in measurements based on them. We found the magnitude of the difference to be dependent on the landmark serving as reference. Inter- and intra-examiner errors were of similar magnitude, although intra-examiner error declined in the repeated landmark identification. Variation in a single landmark location had in general little effect on the measurement value.
Variations in landmark location lead to differences in numeric evaluation of the anatomic relationships in the skull base area. These differences were, however, shown to have little clinical significance. Hence, the documented methods are applicable for screening of basilar pathology.
探讨在未受影响的年轻个体的头颅侧位X线片上识别解剖标志的可靠性，这些标志传统上用于诊断颅颈交界区的病理关系。
从赫尔辛基纵向生长研究中，随机选取20张头颅侧位X线片，由两名检查者进行分析和重新分析。两人均确定了七个头颅测量标志，并据此计算了五项测量值。比较结果差异。采用类似方法，11名检查者对三张X线片进行分析并比较结果。
在头颅侧位X线片上，一些解剖标志比其他标志更容易定位，这导致基于它们的测量结果存在差异。我们发现差异的大小取决于用作参考的标志。检查者之间和检查者内部的误差大小相似，尽管在重复的标志识别中检查者内部误差有所下降。单个标志位置的变化总体上对测量值影响很小。
标志位置的变化导致颅底区域解剖关系数值评估的差异。然而，这些差异显示出临床意义不大。因此，所记录的方法适用于筛查基底病变。
