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Purpose: Computed tomography (CT) and, in particular, cone beam CT (CBCT) have been increasingly used as a diagnostic tool in recent years. Patient motion during acquisition is common in CBCT due to long scan times. This results in degraded image quality and may potentially increase the number of retakes. Our aim was to develop a marker-free iterative motion correction algorithm that works on the projection images and is suitable for local tomography., Methods: We present an iterative motion correction algorithm that allows the patient's motion to be detected and taken into account during reconstruction. The core of our method is a fast GPU-accelerated three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm. Assuming rigid motion, motion correction is performed by minimizing a pixel-wise cost function between all captured x-ray images and parameterized projections of the reconstructed volume., Results: Our method is marker-free and requires only projection images. Furthermore, it can deal with local tomography data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on both simulated and real motion-beset patient images. The results show that our new motion correction algorithm leads to accurate reconstructions with sharper edges, better contrasts and more detail., Conclusions: The presented method allows for correction of patient motion with observable improvements in image quality compared to uncorrected reconstructions. Potentially, this may reduce the number of retakes caused by corrupted reconstructions due to patient movements., (© 2019 The Authors. Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Objective: The present study tested the reliability of an optical scanning device for the objective assessment of postoperative facial swelling., Study Design: Twenty control subjects bearing a defined volume of water (10-30 mL) in an intraorally carried balloon were tested to assess the measurement accuracy of the device. As a proof of concept, facial volumes of 59 surgical cases were recorded before osteotomy and 1 and 7 days after intervention with the use of a structured light scanner., Results: The median difference between the applied and the measured volumes was 0.67 mL for the control test with the artificial swelling simulated using water balloons. For subjects having third molar osteotomy, extraoral volume increased to 5.29 cm(3) 1 day after surgery (95% CI 5.22-8.52) and decreased to 0.00 mL (95% CI 0.85-2.55) after 7 days., Conclusions: Contact-free visible-light 3-dimensional scanning is reliable for the objective assessment of postoperative facial swelling., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Precise registration of radiographic projection images acquired in almost arbitrary geometries for the purpose of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction is beset with difficulties. We modify and enhance a registration method [R. Schulze, D. D. Bruellmann, F. Roeder, and B. d'Hoedt, Med. Phys. 31, 2849-2854 (2004)] based on coupling a minimum amount of three reference spheres in arbitrary positions to a rigid object under study for precise a posteriori pose estimation. Two consecutive optimization procedures (a, initial guess; b, iterative coordinate refinement) are applied to completely exploit the reference's shadow information for precise registration of the projections. The modification has been extensive, i.e., only the idea of using the sphere shadows to locate each sphere in three dimensions from each projection was retained whereas the approach to extract the shadow information has been changed completely and extended. The registration information is used for subsequent algebraic reconstruction of the 3D information inherent in the projections. We present a detailed mathematical theory of the registration process as well as simulated data investigating its performance in the presence of error. Simulation of the initial guess revealed a mean relative error in the critical depth coordinate ranging between 2.1% and 4.4%, and an evident error reduction by the subsequent iterative coordinate refinement. To prove the applicability of the method for real-world data, algebraic 3D reconstructions from few (< or = 9) projection radiographs of a human skull, a human mandible and a teeth-containing mandible segment are presented. The method facilitates extraction of 3D information from only few projections obtained from off-the-shelf radiographic projection units without the need for costly hardware. Technical requirements as well as radiation dose are low.