Abstract

MORAES, MICHELLE BIANCHI DE et al. Comparison between radiographic digital subtraction and direct digital radiography in the detection of root resorption. RPG, Rev. pós-grad. [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.4, pp. 139-146. ISSN 0104-5695.

The delay on diagnose severe root resorption can lead to tooth loss. Due to the fact that digital subtraction radiography is an important resource to detect initial mineral changes, this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the digital subtraction radiography and digital radiography in early diagnosis of the simulated apical and lingual external root resorption. Fourteen human lower incisors, submitted to simulated apical and lingual resorption cavities of different sizes, imaged with different angle projection variations were included in this study. The images were subtracted by the Regeemy® program, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance for each imaging system, and the diagnostic accuracy of both diagnosis methods for detecting lesions was conducted by the assessment of the pairs of radiography (digital and subtracted) by two radiologists. According to the results, there were no statistically significant differences between the methods in detecting lingual resorption, independently of the lesion dimension. There was also no difference on the apical resorption detection, except by the viewer two as to 10º horizontal and vertical angles, who related that on the larger cavity, the digital radiography was more reliable than the subtraction radiography. It was also further noticed that the deeper the cavity size, the better the apical and lingual resorption detection; and the radiography taken of the apical and lingual resorption, with the smaller vertical and horizontal angles variation ensured a better assessment of the image, mainly on the shallower cavity size.

Keywords : Subtraction technique; Root resorption; Radiographic image enhancement.