Korean J Oral Maxillofac Radiol.  2009 Mar;39(1):13-18.

Study of threshold and opacity in three-dimensional CT volume rendering of oral and maxillofacial area

• Choi MK
• Lee SS
• Huh KH
• Yi WJ
• Choi SC

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was designed to determine a proper threshold value and opacity in three-dimensional CT volume rendering of oral and maxillofacial area.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Three-dimensional CT data obtained from 50 persons who were done orthognatic surgery in department of oral and maxillofacial radiology of Seoul National University retrospectively. 12 volume rendering post-processing protocols of combination of threshold (100HU, 150HU, 221HU, 270HU) and opacity (58%, 80%, 90%) were applied. Five observers independently evaluated image quality using a five-point range scale. The results were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curves, ANOVA and Kappa value. And three oromaxillofacial surgeons chose the all images that they thought proper clinically in the all of images.
RESULTS
Analysis using ROC curves revealed the area under each curve which indicated a diagnostic accuracy. The highest diagnostic accuracy appear with 100HU and 58% opacity. and the lowest diagnostic accuracy appear with 221HU and 58% opacity that are being used protocol in department of oral and maxillofacial radiology of Seoul National University. But, no statistically significant difference was noted between any of the protocols. And the number of proper images clinically that chosen by three oromaxillofacial surgeons is the largest in the cases of protocol 8 (221HU, opacity 80%) and protocol 11 (270HU, opacity 80%) in one after the other.
CONCLUSION
Threshold and opacity in volume rendering can be controled easily and these can be causes of making an diagnostic accuracy. So we need to select proper values of these factors.

Keyword

Threshold; Opacity; Tomography, Computed; Volume Rendering

MeSH Terms

Humans
Retrospective Studies
ROC Curve