Radiomics analysis of peri-implant bone alterations after dental implant fracture

Dental implant fracture is a serious mechanical complication that may induce local bone alterations. This study aimed to characterize peri-implant bone morphology following implant fracture using computed tomography (CT)-based texture analysis (TA). CT data from 18 patients with dental implant fractures and 18 patients with normal implants (controls) were analysed. A total of 279 radiomics features were extracted from the jawbone around the dental implant in both groups and analysed using MaZda version 3.3. Ten features were selected using the Fisher coefficient, including two histogram features (10th percentile, 50th percentile), six gray-level co-occurrence matrix features (S(3,3)Sum average (SumAverg), S(2,2)SumAverg, S(4,4)SumAverg, S(3,-3)SumAverg, S(1,1)SumAverg), and two wavelet transforms (Energy of wavelet coefficients in sub-bands LL_s-2, energy of wavelet coefficients in sub-bands LH_s-2). These radiomics features were compared between the control and fracture groups using the Mann-Whitney U-test, with significance set at 0.05. All ten selected radiomics features demonstrated significant differences between the fracture and control groups (P < 0.05). CT texture analysis enables the detection of peri-implant bone changes following implant fracture. These findings provide quantitative insights into bone alterations associated with implant fracture and may aid clinical decision-making during subsequent treatment planning.