THE QUANTITATIVE CONE BEAM-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY STUDY OF THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF PULP BLOOD FLOW RECONSTRUCTION IN ENDODONTIC DISEASE
The quality of dental pulp cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images significantly impacts the accuracy of disease diagnosis. However, existing CBCT images often suffer from deficiencies such as artifacts, noise, resolution limitations and data processing issues, which frequently lead to misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses. This study aims to construct a highly accurate dental pulp CBCT image segmentation model based on the pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) approach. By optimizing the PCNN model, this work sought to enhance the segmentation accuracy of dental pulp CBCT images and to evaluate the clinical efficacy of dental pulp revascularization surgery through quantitative analysis of the CBCT images, thereby improving the diagnostic accuracy of imaging data and the reliability of treatment outcome assessments. To achieve this, a cross-entropy thresholding method was introduced to optimize the PCNN model, establishing the Otsu-PCNN model for CBCT pulp segmentation. The model performance was evaluated using accuracy, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). The study involved 43 patients with pulp diseases who underwent dental pulp revascularization, with follow-ups conducted preoperatively and at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months postoperatively. Changes in root image area (RIA), tooth root length (TRL) and apical diameter (AHd) were recorded, along with the classification of root development types. The results showed that the sensitivity and PPV of the Otsu-PCNN model were significantly higher than those of the optimized PCNN model ([Formula: see text]). The detection time for the Otsu-PCNN model was 13.80 s, with an ROC area of 0.93. The overall effective treatment rate for all patients was 100%. RIA, TRL and AHd increased from 30.55%, 2.58% and 19.95% at 3 months postoperatively to 84.85%, 25.18% and 51.62% at 18 months, respectively. Of the roots examined, 22 (48.84%) exhibited Type I root development. This study demonstrates that the optimization of the PCNN model significantly enhances the segmentation accuracy of dental pulp CBCT images, and that dental pulp revascularization surgery can effectively improve root development, yielding significant results in the treatment of pulp diseases.
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