Diagnostic accuracy of phosphor plate systems and conventional radiography in the detection of simulated internal root resorption.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of conventional radiography and photostimulable phosphor (PSP) plate in the detection of simulated internal root resorption (IRR) lesions in early stages.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty single-rooted teeth were X-rayed before and after having a simulated IRR early lesion. Three imaging systems were used: Kodak InSight dental film and two PSPs digital systems, Digora Optime and VistaScan. The digital images were displayed on a 20.1″ LCD monitor using the native software of each system, and the conventional radiographs were evaluated on a masked light box. Two radiologists were asked to indicate the presence or absence of IRR and, after two weeks, all images were re-evaluated. Cohen's kappa coefficient was calculated to assess intra- and interobserver agreement. The three imaging systems were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

RESULTS: For interexaminer agreement, overall kappa values were 0.70, 0.65 and 0.70 for conventional film, Digora Optima and VistaScan, respectively. Both the conventional and digital radiography presented low sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive values with no significant difference between imaging systems (p = .0725).

CONCLUSIONS: The performance of conventional and PSP was similar in the detection of simulated IRR lesions in early stages with low accuracy.