Korean J Oral Maxillofac Radiol.  2006 Mar;36(1):49-54.

Measurement of facial soft tissues thickness using 3D computed tomographic images

• Jeong HG
• Kim KD
• Han SH
• Shin DW
• Hu KS
• Lee JB
• Park H
• Park CS

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate accuracy and reliability of program to measure facial soft tissue thickness using 3D computed tomographic images by comparing with direct measurement.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
One cadaver was scanned with a Helical CT with 3 mm slice thickness and 3 mm/sec table speed. The acquired data was reconstructed with 1.5 mm reconstruction interval and the images were transferred to a personal computer. The facial soft tissue thickness were measured using a program developed newly in 3D image. For direct measurement, the cadaver was cut with a bone cutter and then a ruler was placed above the cut side, The procedure was followed by taking pictures of the facial soft tissues with a high-resolution digital camera. Then the measurements were done in the photographic images and repeated for ten times. A repeated measure analysis of variance was adopted to compare and analyze the measurements resulting from the two different methods. Comparison according to the areas was analyzed by Mann-Whitney test.
RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences between the direct measurements and those using the 3D images (p>0.05). There were statistical differences in the measurements on 17 points but all the points except 2 points showed a mean difference of 0.5 mm or less.
CONCLUSION
The developed software program to measure the facial soft tissue thickness using 3D images was so accurate that it allows to measure facial soft tissues thickness more easily in forensic science and anthropology.

Keyword

Facial Soft Tissue Thickness; Measurement; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Tomography, X-ray Computed

MeSH Terms

Anthropology
Cadaver
Forensic Sciences
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Microcomputers
Tomography, Spiral Computed
Tomography, X-Ray Computed