Fractal dimension in textures analysis of xenotransplants

Abstract

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the healing process in postresectal and postcystal bone loss cases using techniques guided bone regeneration, observed within 1-year-long period. Radiographic images of 20 patients (17 females and 8 males) who had undergone xenotransplantation to fill jawbone losses were analyzed. The combination therapy of intraosseous deficits following xenotransplantation consisted of bone augmentation with xenogenic material together with covering regenerative membranes and tight wound closure. The bone regeneration process was estimated comparing the images taken on the day of the surgery and 12 months later, by means of digital radiography set Kodak RVG 6100. The interpretation of the RVG image depends on the assessment ability of the eye looking at it, which gives a large margin of uncertainty. Areas of interest were separated from radiographic images and binarized. On the basis of those fragments, box-counting dimension ( \(D_{B}\) ) and information dimension ( \(D_{I}\) ) were calculated. Box-counting dimension and information dimension values increase with time—image structures become more complex. Knowing that in case of normal bone regeneration, the value of the fractal dimension equals 1.0 right after the surgery and 1.6 after a year after the bone treatment, and we could use image segmentation to efficiently find fragments where this value differs from those acquired in the course of tests and quicken diagnostics of irregularities in bone tissue regeneration.

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