Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the potential clinical application of fractal analysis of midpalatal suture fusion for prediction of pubertal growth spurts.
Methods
Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans and hand-wrist radiographs were obtained for 165 subjects (81 males, 84 females; mean age 15.5 ± 7.6 years). From the CBCT image of the midpalatal suture, the region of interest was obtained according to a previously described protocol. The fractal dimension (FD) of the midpalatal suture was calculated. Spearman’s correlation coefficients were estimated to investigate the associations among age, skeletal maturation index (SMI), and FD of the midpalatal suture. Receiver-operating characteristic curves were used to determine the cutoff values for identification of pubertal growth spurts.
Results
Significant correlations were observed among age, SMI, and FD of the midpalatal suture (P < 0.05). The optimal cutoff value of the FD for evaluation of a pubertal growth spurt was 0.9484 in males and 1.1205 in females. Fractal analysis of the midpalatal suture on CBCT images might be a clinically meaningful, objective, and quantitative method for evaluating pubertal growth spurts.
Conclusions
The present results suggest that fractal analysis of the midpalatal suture could be useful for decision-making on treatments involving growth modification in growing children with a skeletal discrepancy.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a 2-year research Grant from Pusan National University.
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Daekeun Kang, Kyoung Ho Kwak, Seong-Sik Kim, Soo-Byung Park, Woo-Sung Son, and Yong-Il Kim declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All radiographic images were obtained in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of Pusan National University Dental Hospital (PNUDH-2015-023) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and later versions. Informed consent for usage of radiographic data was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
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Kang, D., Kwak, KH., Kim, SS. et al. Application of fractal analysis of the midpalatal suture for estimation of pubertal growth spurts. Oral Radiol 33, 199–203 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-016-0266-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-016-0266-4