Diagnostic yield of conventional and digital cephalometric images: a humancadaver study

Objectives: To compare the clinical efficacy of digital and conventional ce phalometric imaging. Methods: Conventional and photostimulable phosphor cephalometric radiograph s were obtained from three human cadavers at nine different exposure settin gs. Subjective image quality was assessed by six observers who evaluated si x cephalometric landmarks. Organ doses were measured with TLDs and effectiv e doses calculated. Results: Compared with conventional cephalometric images, digital images ha d a consistently better subjective image quality for all exposure settings which was significant (P<0.05) for all but two. Organ doses were comparable . Higher kV and lower mAs settings yielded the lowest effective dose, which was highly dependent on the position of the thyroid gland in the beam. Conclusion: Relatively small variations in exposure settings do not influen ce subjective diagnostic image quality of digital cephalometric radiographs . Higher kV and lower mAs settings have the lowest effective dose and shoul d therefore be preferred.