DMFR
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bartling, S.
Right arrow Articles by Becker, H
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bartling, S.
Right arrow Articles by Becker, H
Dentomaxillofacial Radiology (2007) 36, 317-327
© 2007 British Institute of Radiology
doi: 10.1259/dmfr/19164138

RESEARCH

Large scan field, high spatial resolution flat-panel detector based volumetric CT of the whole human skull base and for maxillofacial imaging

SH Bartling*,1, O Majdani2, R Gupta3, T Rodt4, C Dullin5, PF Fitzgerald6 and H Becker1

1 Department of Neuroradiology, OE 8210, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany; 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany; 3 Department of Radiology, Founders House, FND-2-216, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA; 4 Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany; 5 Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Goettingen University Hospital, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; 6 Systems & Applications Lab, GE Global Research, 1 Research Circle, Niskayuna, NY 12309, USA

*Correspondence to: Dr Soenke Heinrich Bartling, MD, Department of Neuroradiology, OE 8210, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany; Email: soenkebartling{at}gmx.de

Received 13 March 2006; revised 25 September 2006; accepted 14 October 2006

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of flat-panel detector based volumetric CT (fpVCT) scanning of the whole human skull base and maxillofacial region, which has thus far only been demonstrated on small, excised specimens. Flat-panel detectors offer more favourable imaging properties than image intensifiers. It is therefore likely that they will replace them in cone-beam CT scanners that are currently used to scan parts of the skull base and maxillofacial region. Furthermore, the resolution of current CT imaging limits diagnosis, surgical planning and intraoperative navigation within these regions. fpVCT might overcome these limitations because it offers higher resolution of high contrast structures than current CT.

Methods: Three embalmed cadaver heads were scanned in two scanners: an experimental fpVCT that offers a scan field large enough for a whole human head, and in a current multislice CT (MSCT). 28 structures were compared.

Results: Both scanners produced bone images of diagnostic quality. Small high contrast structures such as parts of the ossicular chain and thin bony laminas were better delineated in fpVCT than in MSCT. fpVCT of maxillofacial region and skull base was rated superior to MSCT (P=0.002) as found in this limited, experimental study.

Conclusions: High spatial resolution fpVCT scanning of both regions in a whole human head is feasible and might be slightly superior to MSCT. fpVCT could improve diagnostic accuracy in selected cases, as well as surgical planning and intraoperative navigation accuracy.

Keywords: computerized tomography; skull base; maxillofacial; flat-panel detector






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
BJR DMFR IMAGING ALL BIR JOURNALS
Copyright © 2007 by the British Institute of Radiology.