Estudio comparativo de confiabilidad y precisión entre el método de trazado cefalométrico manual con el trazado digital (Dolphin imaging v.11.0) en la radiografía cefálica lateral del cráneo

Abstract

The present research is to evaluate a program of digital cephalometric tracing, Dolphin Imaging v.11.0, in terms of reliability and accuracy, relative to manual tracing method. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 30 cephalic lateral radiographs belonging to the files of Specialization Clinical Orthodontics, University of Cuenca, patients of both sexes and age range between 11 and 24 years of age, constituting examples of different types of malocclusion. Radiographas were part of two experimental groups, according to its measurement performed: Group 1) manual tracing and Group 2) digital mapping trough v.11.0 Dolphin Imaging program. To compare measurements, were selected linear and angular measurements. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. Reproducibility between the methods was calculated by t test and reliability by Pearson correlation coefficient’s. The statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results: All measurements for each method showed a strong correlation coefficient indicating good reproducibility of the measurements, except for L1/PM. Many of the variables show consistency between the two methods except Pg-Nper, U1/APg and L sup / SNPG. Conclusion: Overall, both methods of manual and digital cephalometric tracing are highly reliable. Although the reproducibility of the two methods show differences statistically significant, these differences more may be clinically significant