Detection of artificially induced vertical radicular fractures using tunedaperture computed tomography

This study compared the accuracy of three imaging modalities for the detect ion of artificially induced vertical root fractures (VRF) on teeth in cadav er mandibles. Fifty-four single-rooted. endodontically treated mandibular t eeth being prepared to carry posts were evaluated using direct digital radi ography (DDI) with a Schick sensor. unprocessed Tuned Aperture Computed Tom ography(R) (TACT-U) images and iteratively restored TACT (TACT-IR) images. Twenty-eight of these teeth had been subjected to fracture induction using an apically driven force. Nine basis images were used for each TACT image g eneration. Eight observers used a five-point confidence rating scale to rec ord the confidence with which they considered a fracture to be present or n ot. Sensitivity and specificity values were computed and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated. The areas under the curves (A, ) used as an indication of the diagnostic accuracy of the imaging system we re as follows: DDI: 0.37: TACT-U: 0.77 and TACT-IR: 0.81. DDI was significa ntly inferior to the TACT modalities. Differences in detection efficacy bas ed on observers and observation sessions were noted on ANOVA and post-hoc T ukey's tests. This study indicates that TACT is the imaging modality of cho ice for VRF in endodontically treated teeth.