Spiral computed tomography based maxillary sinus imaging in relation to tooth loss, implant placement and potential grafting procedure.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to explore the maxillary sinus anatomy, its variations and volume in patients with a need for maxillary implant placement.

Material And Methods: Maxillary sinus data of 101 consecutive patients who underwent spiral computed tomography (CT) scans for preoperative implant planning in the maxilla at the Department of Periodontology, University Hospital, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium were retrospectively evaluated. The alveolar bone height was measured on serial cross-sectional images between alveolar crest and sinus floor, parallel to the tooth axis.

Computer-aided detection of colonic polyps using low-dose CT acquisitions.

Rationale And Objectives: This report proposes an alternative method for the automatic detection of colonic polyps that is robust enough to be directly applicable on low-dose computed tomographic data.

Materials And Methods: The polyp modeling process takes into account both the gray-level appearance of polyps (intensity profiles) and their geometry (extended Gaussian images). Spherical harmonic decompositions are used for comparison purposes, allowing fast estimation of the similarity between a candidate and a set of previously computed models.

Computer aided detection for low-dose CT colonography.

The paper describes a method for automatic detection of colonic polyps, robust enough to be directly applied to low-dose CT colonographic datasets. Polyps are modeled using gray level intensity profiles and extended Gaussian images. Spherical harmonic decompositions ensure an easy comparison between a polyp candidate and a set of polypoid models, found in a previously built database.

Radiation dose vs. image quality for low-dose CT protocols of the head for maxillofacial surgery and oral implant planning.

The goal of this study was to determine the acquisition parameters for a low-dose multi-slice CT protocol and to compare the effective dose and the image quality of this low-dose protocol with the image quality of a clinical multi-slice CT protocol, routinely used for visualisation of the head. The low-dose protocol was derived from a clinical multi-slice CT protocol by lowering mA s and kV and increasing the pitch. The low-dose protocol yielded a dose reduction from 1.

The nasopalatine canal revisited using 2D and 3D CT imaging.

Objectives: To assess the location, morphology and dimensions of the nasopalatine canal on two-dimensional and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) CT images.

Methods: Material included 34 spiral CT scans for pre-operative planning of implant placement in the maxilla. Scanning was performed using a standard exposure and patient positioning protocol.