Validation of a new method for automated determination of bone age in Japanese children

Abstract

BoneXpert, an automated method for analysis of hand radiographs of children, has recently been developed and validated in European children. It determines Tanner-Whitehouse (TW) and Greulich Pyle (GP) bone ages (BA). The purpose of this work is to validate BoneXpert BA in Japanese children and determine the following two properties of the method: (1) The accuracy of the BA, i.e. the standard deviation from an experienced Japanese TW BA rater. (2) The precision of the BA, i.e. BoneXpert's ability to yield the same BA value on a repeated radiograph. The data consist of two studies: 185 radiographs of 22 normal children followed longitudinally from approximately 7 years to full maturity, and 284 radiographs of 22 patients with growth hormone deficiency treated with growth hormone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue followed from an age of 4-11 years to almost full maturity. All radiographs were rated manually according to the TW-Japan system. BoneXpert processed all images, and the accuracy (SD) of TW-Japan BA was 0.72 years (95% CI 0.68-0.76). The precision error (SD) on a single determination of GP BA was 0.17 years (95% CI 0.15-0.19). It is concluded that BoneXpert performs as well in Japanese children as it does in Caucasian children. This study accomplishes a calibration of BoneXpert to the TW-Japan standard, which performs well for the entire BA range from 4 years up to full maturity.