Cone-beam computed tomography images of phantoms with simulating trabecular bone structure fabricated using micro-stereolithography.

OBJECTIVE Phantoms with simulating mandibular trabecular bone structure fabricated using micro-stereolithography were applied for a quantitative evaluation of cone-beam computed tomography (CT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS Phantoms with a three-dimensional lattice, in which a square pillar was set at 0.10, 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40 mm at the edge, spaced at 0.60 mm, were made of an acrylic resin using micro-stereolithography. Cone-beam CT with a 0.1 mm-cubic voxel was then performed, and a plot profile of voxel values was analyzed. RESULTS The plot profiles of seven peaks corresponding to pillars in phantoms with 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40 mm-pillars were visually observed in cone-beam CT images. However, peaks of corresponding pillars in the 0.10 mm-pillar phantom could not be distinguished. The differences between average measured and designed distance were very small. CONCLUSION Cone-beam CT images of phantoms with 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40 mm-pillars fabricated using microstereolithography were obtained.