Evaluation of Repeatability and Reproducibility of Manual and Computerized Methods for Cephalometric Analysis

Manual tracing has been considered as a standard for cephalometric analysis. However, computerized cephalometric analyzing systems are being used widely in orthodontics due to newer advances in computerized systems. Hence, there is a need to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of manual and computerized cephalometric analysis techniques. Aim: To determine intra-examiner repeatability and inter-examiner reproducibility of landmarks using manual and computerized cephalometric analyzing techniques. Methods: 30 lateral cephalograms were randomly selected from the archives of the department. Cephalometric tracings of 10 angular and 2 linear values were carried out and measured by 2 operators with the help of manual and computerized method on each cephalogram. Result: Intra-examiner correlation coefficients ranged from 0.80 to 0.982 for manual and 0.28 to 0.99 for computerized tracings. Inter-examiner correlation coefficients (ICC) for conventional method ranged from 0.86 to 0.97. For computerized tracings, the values ranged from 0.24 to 0.97. Conclusion: Intra-examiner repeatability and inter-examiner reproducibility of landmarks with both methods showed high correlation coefficients.