Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the digital diagnosis and treatment program for maxillofacial fractures.
Materials and methods: The data of 626 patients with maxillofacial fractures were analyzed retrospectively from January 2010 to August 2016. These patients were divided into 2 groups. In the experimental group, preoperative planning was conducted and transferred to patients with guiding templates and navigation according to the digital diagnosis and treatment program for maxillofacial fractures. In the control group, postsurgical planning was performed instead of preoperative planning. To assess the accuracy of the digital diagnosis and treatment program for maxillofacial fractures, preoperative planning and postoperative computed tomographic models were superimposed and imported to dedicated software (Geomagic Studio 13.0, Geomagic, Inc, Research Triangle Park, NC) to calculate the difference between the 2 models in the 2 groups.
Results: Results of the experimental set showed that the mean error between the preoperative planning model and the postoperative model ranged from 0.65 to 0.97 mm (average, 0.89 mm). For the control group, the mean error was 0.78 to 1.45 mm (average, 1.01 mm). Thus, the mean error of the experimental group was statistically lower than that of the control group (P < .0001). Postoperative analysis of the subjective evaluation of occlusion recovery showed that 92.13% of patients achieved good occlusion recovery in the experimental group compared with only 84.91% in the control group. The digital diagnosis and treatment program for maxillofacial fractures was more accurate.
Conclusion: Aided by the digital diagnosis and treatment program, the accuracy for maxillofacial fractures was notably improved. To facilitate the application and promotion of digital technology, further modification of the complete digital diagnosis and treatment pathway for maxillofacial fractures is highly desired.
Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.