Aksoz Gediz, El Hakan, Palomo J Martin
Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Orthodontics, Hacettepe University, Sihhiye, Ankara, 06230, Turkey.
Department of Orthodontics, Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Jan 4;25(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12903-024-05402-3.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of the volume and minimum axial area (MAA) measurements between different upper and lower boundaries used for oropharyngeal airway assessment.
Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) scans of 49 subjects taken for pre-orthognathic surgical planning were obtained retrospectively from the archives (n = 49; 32 females, 17 males; mean age = 20.9 ± 5.22). Volume and MAA of the oropharyngeal airway were measured in 32 different airway segmentations created with four different upper and eight different lower boundaries using the Dolphin3D (Dolphin Imaging & Management Solutions, Chatsworth, California, ABD) software. All measurements were performed by the same examiner and were repeated 2 weeks apart. The correlation between the measurements was evaluated with the Pearson correlation test. Intra-observer reliability was calculated with the intra-class correlation coefficient.
Volume and MAA showed excellent intra-observer reliability (0.997 and 0.999 intraclass correlation coefficients, respectively) and a high level of positive correlation (r = 0.896-0.999, and r = 0.859-1.00, respectively) for all the measurements.
All measurements between different lower and upper boundaries showed a high correlation. It was found that the lower and upper limits assessed in this study can be used safely in future upper airway studies according to the study design.
本研究的目的是评估用于口咽气道评估的不同上下边界之间的容积测量值与最小轴向面积（MAA）测量值的相关性。
回顾性地从档案中获取49名接受正颌外科手术规划前的受试者的锥形束计算机断层扫描（CBCT）图像（n = 49；女性32名，男性17名；平均年龄 = 20.9 ± 5.22）。使用Dolphin3D（Dolphin Imaging & Management Solutions，加利福尼亚州查茨沃斯，ABD）软件，在由四种不同上边界和八种不同下边界创建的32种不同气道分割中测量口咽气道的容积和MAA。所有测量均由同一名检查者进行，并在相隔2周后重复进行。采用Pearson相关检验评估测量值之间的相关性。使用组内相关系数计算观察者内可靠性。
对于所有测量，容积和MAA均显示出极好的观察者内可靠性（组内相关系数分别为0.997和0.999）以及高度正相关（r分别为0.896 - 0.999和0.859 - 1.00）。
不同上下边界之间的所有测量均显示出高度相关性。根据本研究设计，发现本研究中评估的上下限可在未来的上气道研究中安全使用。
