Automated landmark identification on cone-beam computed tomography: Accuracy and reliability

To evaluate the accuracy and reliability of a fully automated landmark identification (ALI) system as a tool for automatic landmark location compared with human judges.

A total of 100 cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were collected. After the calibration procedure, two human judges identified 53 landmarks in the x, y, and z coordinate planes on CBCTs using Checkpoint Software (Stratovan Corporation, Davis, Calif). The ground truth was created by averaging landmark coordinates identified by two human judges for each landmark. To evaluate the accuracy of ALI, the mean absolute error (mm) at the x, y, and z coordinates and mean error distance (mm) between the human landmark identification and the ALI were determined, and a successful detection rate was calculated.

Overall, the ALI system was as successful at landmarking as the human judges. The ALI's mean absolute error for all coordinates was 1.57 mm on average. Across all three coordinate planes, 94% of the landmarks had a mean absolute error of less than 3 mm. The mean error distance for all 53 landmarks was 3.19 ± 2.6 mm. When applied to 53 landmarks on 100 CBCTs, the ALI system showed a 75% success rate in detecting landmarks within a 4-mm error distance range.

Overall, ALI showed clinically acceptable mean error distances except for a few landmarks. The ALI was more precise than humans when identifying landmarks on the same image at different times. This study demonstrates the promise of ALI in aiding orthodontists with landmark identifications on CBCTs.