Abstract：
This study aimed to evaluate patient-, software-, and observer-related factors influencing the time required for volumetric measurements of maxillary sinuses using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and a commercially available software. The volumes of healthy bilateral maxillary sinuses of adult patients from CBCT images taken during a 15-month study period were measured using dedicated software by two observers. The time required for volumetric assessments was evaluated statistically with respect to the potential influence of gender, age, sinus side, sinus volume, sequence of measurement, and selection threshold of the software. The resulting average sinus volume of the 174 sinuses from 87 patients was 16.9 cm3. The average time required to measure one sinus volume was 91.8 s. Sinuses from male patients required a longer time (median of 95.5 s) for the measurements than their female counterparts (median of 87.5 s). Measurement time increased with increasing age, sinus volume and selection threshold based on calculated grey values provided by the software. The volumetric measurements and measurement times exhibited a high intra-observer agreement. The volumetric measurements were highly reproducible. Each measurement was completed within 4 minutes, though there was a marked difference in the mean measurement time between the two observers. Semi-automated volumetric measurement of the maxillary sinus with commercially available software is feasible, efficient, and reproducible. Based on these favorable findings, practitioners might consider using such volumetric instead of linear measurements to plan and analyse outcomes of sinus grafting procedures in daily clinical practice.
摘要：
本研究旨在评估患者-，软件-，以及影响使用锥形束计算机断层扫描（CBCT）和市售软件进行上颌窦体积测量所需时间的观察者相关因素。由两名观察者使用专用软件测量了在15个月研究期间拍摄的CBCT图像中成年患者健康双侧上颌窦的体积。根据性别的潜在影响，对容量评估所需的时间进行了统计评估，年龄,窦侧,窦容积,测量顺序，和软件的选择阈值。87名患者的174个鼻窦的平均窦体积为16.9cm3。测量一个窦体积所需的平均时间为91.8s。男性患者的鼻窦比女性患者（中位数为87.5s）需要更长的测量时间（中位数为95.5s）。测量时间随着年龄的增长而增加，根据软件提供的计算的灰度值，窦体积和选择阈值。体积测量和测量时间表现出很高的观察者内部一致性。体积测量是高度可再现的。每次测量在4分钟内完成，尽管两个观察者之间的平均测量时间存在显着差异。使用市售软件对上颌窦进行半自动容积测量是可行的，高效,和可重复的。基于这些有利的发现，医师可能会考虑在日常临床实践中使用这种体积测量而不是线性测量来计划和分析鼻窦移植术的结果.
