kVp, mA, and voxel size effect on 3D voxel-based superimposition

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of changing kVp, mA, and voxel size on the accuracy of voxel-based superimposition on the anterior cranial base. Materials and Methods: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans were taken on a phantom skull using different kVp, mA, and voxel size combinations. CBCT scans were superimposed using commercially available software. Two separate open-source software programs were used to generate a three-dimensional (3D) color map objective assessment of the differences in seven different regions: Nasion, Point A, Zygomatic (right and left), Point B, and Gonial (right and left). Each region had around 200 points that were used to calculate the mean differences between the superimpositions. Results: Intraclass correlation showed excellent reliability (0.95). Lowering the kVp made the biggest difference, showing an average discrepancy of 0.7 +/- 0.3 mm, and a high mean of 1.4 +/- 0.3 in the Right Gonial region. Lowering the mA showed less of a discrepancy, with an average of 0.373 +/- 0.2 mm, and the highest discrepancy, also on the Right Gonial Area, of 0.7 +/- 0.1 mm. The voxel size had the least impact on the accuracy of registered volumes, with mean discrepancy values of less than 0.2 mm. Conclusions: Using different CBCT settings can affect the accuracy of the voxel-based superimposition method. This is particularly the case when using low kVp values, while changes in mA or voxel sizes did not significantly interfere with the superimposition outcome.