Evaluation of demineralized bone and bone transplants in vitro and in vivo with cone beam computed tomography imaging

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the ability of two flat panel cone beam CT (CBCT) devices to identify demineralized bone and bone transplants in vivo and in vitro. Methods: Datasets from patients with autologous bone grafts (n = 9, KaVo 3DeXam (KaVo, Biberach, Germany); n = 38, Accuitomo 40 (Morita, Osaka, Japan)) were retrospectively evaluated. Demineralized and non-demineralized porcine cancellous bone blocks were examined with the two CBCT devices. A SawBone® skull (Pacific Research Laboratories, Vashon, WA) was used as a positioning tool for the bone blocks. Descriptive evaluation and image quality assessment were conducted on the KaVo 3DeXam data (voxel size 0.3 mm) using the OsiriX viewer as well as on the Morita Accuitomo data (voxel size 0.25 mm) using proprietary viewer software. Results: Both in vivo and in vitro, the descriptive analysis of the images of the two devices showed well-visualized bone transplants with clearly defined cancellous bones and well-defined single...