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

Abstract

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. 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. 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). 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. 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.