Evaluation of Two Computerized Methods for Presurgical Volumetric Analysis in Secondary Alveolar Cleft Bone Grafting: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate presurgical computerized volumetric analysis in secondary alveolar cleft bone grafting (SABG) and the time taken for calculation using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) via two different software programs.

Materials and methods: Twelve patients with unilateral alveolar clefts were investigated using CBCT. Two independent investigators did presurgical volumetric analysis for each patient's CBCT data using two different methods. Method A involved On-Demand 3D software (Cybermed Inc., Korea), while method B involved InVesalius 3 software (CTI, Brazil). The volume outcomes and time spent for measurements were compared between both software programs. Interobserver reliability and descriptive and t-test statistics were computed, and statistical significance was considered when p ≤ 0.05.

Results: There was not a statistically significant difference between clefts' volumetric measurements by the two methods via both investigators (p = 0.186 and 0.069). However, the difference in time taken for these measurements between the two methods was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values indicated excellent interobserver reliability for measurements by method A (ICC ~ 0.998), and moderate reliability for method B (ICC ~ 0.626).

Conclusions: Both software programs used in this study had comparable volumetric computation. Method B took much less calculating time than method A. The interobserver reliability was high for both methods.

Clinical significance: These both investigated software programs may show a clinical implication for presurgical alveolar cleft volume measurement, thus reducing the surgical operating time and adequately selecting a donor site with a congruent sufficient amount of bone grafts.

Keywords: Alveolar bone grafting; Alveolar cleft Cone-beam computed tomography..