title: A new method of 3-D cephalometry Part I: the anatomic Cartesian 3-D reference system.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to present a new innovative three-dimensional (3-D) cephalometric method. Part I deals with the set-up and validation of a voxel-based semi-automatic 3-D cephalometric reference system. The CT data (DICOM 3.0 files) of 20 control patients with normal skeletal relationships were used for this study. To investigate accuracy and reliability of the 3-D cephalometric reference system (Maxilimtrade mark, version 1.3.0) a total of 42 (14 horizontal, 14 vertical and 14 transversal) orthogonal measurements were performed on each patient twice by each of two investigators. The intra-observer measurement error was less then 0.88 mm, 0.76 mm and 0.84 mm for horizontal, vertical and transversal orthogonal measurements, respectively. The inter-observer measurement error was less as 0.78 mm, 0.86 mm and 1.26 mm for horizontal, vertical and transversal orthogonal measurements, respectively. Squared correlation coefficients showed a high intra-observer and inter-observer reliability. The presented 3-D cephalometric reference system proved to be accurate and reliable and can therefore be used for 3-D cephalometric hard and soft tissue analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital Brugmann, ULB, Brussels, Belgium. gwen.swennen@skynet.be
authors.forename: Gwen R J
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Swennen
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schutyser
authors.forename: Enno-Ludwig
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Groeve
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Mey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed