A comparison of cephalometric measurements: a picture archiving and communication system versus the hand-tracing method--a preliminary study.

Traditionally, cephalometric analysis has been carried out using a hand-tracing manual method. In imaging, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are information management systems used for the capture and measurement of medical and dental radiographs. Although not customized for lateral cephalometry, this study aimed to evaluate the cephalometric measurements made on screen using PACS compared with the conventional hand-tracing method. Six angular and four liner parameters were measured on five radiographs of four females and one male with an age range of 14-20 years. Analysis was completed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. For the electronic method, SNB (P=0.04) and lower incisor angle (P=0.05) were the only parameters found to be significantly different between the two operators. There was no significant difference between operators 1 and 2 for the hand-tracing method for any measurement. All measurements were comparable between the two methods. This preliminary study would suggest that using PACS may be an acceptable method for obtaining cephalometric measurements for treatment planning; however, further evaluation is necessary with a larger sample size.