title: Validation of CBCT for the computation of textural biomarkers.
abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with significant pain and 42.6% of patients with TMJ disorders present with evidence of TMJ OA. However, OA diagnosis and treatment remain controversial, since there are no clear symptoms of the disease. The subchondral bone in the TMJ is believed to play a major role in the progression of OA. We hypothesize that the textural imaging biomarkers computed in high resolution Conebeam CT (hr-CBCT) and μCT scans are comparable. The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of computing textural imaging biomarkers in-vivo using hr-CBCT, compared to those computed in μCT scans as our Gold Standard. Specimens of condylar bones obtained from condylectomies were scanned using μCT and hr-CBCT. Nine different textural imaging biomarkers (four co-occurrence features and five run-length features) from each pair of μCT and hr-CBCT were computed and compared. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to compare textural biomarkers values of μCT and hr-CBCT. Four of the nine computed textural biomarkers showed a strong positive correlation between biomarkers computed in μCT and hr-CBCT. Higher correlations in Energy and Contrast, and in GLN (grey-level non-uniformity) and RLN (run length non-uniformity) indicate quantitative texture features can be computed reliably in hr-CBCT, when compared with μCT. The textural imaging biomarkers computed in-vivo hr-CBCT have captured the structure, patterns, contrast between neighboring regions and uniformity of healthy and/or pathologic subchondral bone. The ability to quantify bone texture non-invasively now makes it possible to evaluate the progression of subchondral bone alterations, in TMJ OA.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Departments of Psychiatry, Computer Science and Orthodontics.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paniagua
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, School of Dentistry ; Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, School of Dentistry.
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ruellas
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benavides
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Statistics and Operational Research.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marron
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Woldford
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cevidanes
keywords: Osteoarthritis; Temporomandibular joint; subchondral bone; texture analysis