title: The effects of slice thickness and interslice interval on reconstructed cone beam computed tomographic images.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to compare the effects of varying 2 image-processing parameters, slice thickness and interslice interval, on the appearances of reconstructed cone beam CT (CBCT) images.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bone height was used a metric for comparing images reconstructed with different slice thicknesses and interslice intervals. We examined 102 putative implant sites in 18 subjects who had treatment planned for dental implants and who were imaged with custom-fitted imaging stents with linear radiopaque markers. Image slice thickness and interslice interval were increased in millimetric increments from 1 to 5 mm, and bone height was used to determine if varying these parameters had a bearing on the resulting images.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant differences were found between bone heights when slice thickness or interslice interval were varied by greater than 1 mm (P < .005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understanding the effects of slice thickness and interslice interval may be important in the portrayal of both normal anatomy and pathoses in CBCT images.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chadwick
authors.forename: Ernest W N
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D057918:Fiducial Markers; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D007575:Jaw, Edentulous / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008340:Mandibular Nerve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015607:Stents