title: The skeletal maturation status estimated by statistical shape analysis: axial images of Japanese cervical vertebra.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate axial cervical vertebral (ACV) shape quantitatively and to build a prediction model for skeletal maturation level using statistical shape analysis for Japanese individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample included 24 female and 19 male patients with hand-wrist radiographs and CBCT images. Through generalized Procrustes analysis and principal components (PCs) analysis, the meaningful PCs were extracted from each ACV shape and analysed for the estimation regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Each ACV shape had meaningful PCs, except for the second axial cervical vertebra. Based on these models, the smallest prediction intervals (PIs) were from the combination of the shape space PCs, age and gender. Overall, the PIs of the male group were smaller than those of the female group. There was no significant correlation between centroid size as a size factor and skeletal maturation level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the ACV maturation method, which was applied by statistical shape analysis, could confirm information about skeletal maturation in Japanese individuals as an available quantifier of skeletal maturation and could be as useful a quantitative method as the skeletal maturation index.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Statistics, College of Natural Science, Pusan National University, Busan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Y-I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.forename: B-H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: S-B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D059925:Anatomic Landmarks / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: bone age; cervical vertebra; cone beam CT; shape analysis