Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
Clin Exp Dent Res. 2024 Dec;10(6):e70021. doi: 10.1002/cre2.70021.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether a low-dose cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) protocol provides diagnostically acceptable image quality for assessing bone healing after alveolar bone grafting.
The study cohort comprised 11 patients (aged 7-14 years) with orofacial clefts who had undergone alveolar bone grafting at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden. During the postsurgical follow-up at 6 months, each patient was assessed twice: once with a standard-dose CBCT protocol and once with a low-dose CBCT protocol, which in total corresponds to one CBCT examination made with the exposure settings recommended by the manufacturer. Among others, the assessed parameters included subjective image quality, as well as bone graft height, thickness, and integration.
No significant differences were found between the standard- and low-dose protocols for most parameters (p > 0.05). Exceptions included subjective image quality (one observer, p = 0.05) and confidence levels during the assessment (three observers, p = 0.01, 0.01, 0.02).
The low-dose protocol yielded adequate image quality for postoperative CBCT healing assessment in patients who have undergone alveolar bone grafting. However, the confidence level of observers during the assessment with the low-dose protocol was reduced. This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06395077).
This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06395077).
本研究旨在探究低剂量锥形束 CT（CBCT）方案是否可提供可接受的诊断图像质量，用于评估牙槽骨移植术后的骨愈合情况。
研究队列包括在瑞典马尔默市斯科讷大学医院接受牙槽骨移植术的 11 名（7-14 岁）面裂患者。在术后 6 个月的随访中，每位患者接受了两次评估：一次采用标准剂量 CBCT 方案，一次采用低剂量 CBCT 方案，这相当于采用制造商推荐的曝光设置进行一次 CBCT 检查。评估参数包括主观图像质量以及骨移植高度、厚度和整合情况等。
大多数参数在标准剂量和低剂量方案之间未发现显著差异（p>0.05）。但有两个例外，分别是主观图像质量（一位观察者，p=0.05）和评估时的置信水平（三位观察者，p=0.01、0.01、0.02）。
对于接受牙槽骨移植术的患者，低剂量方案可提供足够的术后 CBCT 愈合评估图像质量，但观察者在评估时的置信水平降低。本研究已在 ClinicalTrials.gov 注册（NCT06395077）。
