EVALUATION OF SURVEY RADIOGRAPHY, LINEAR TOMOGRAPHY AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY FOR DETECTING EXPERIMENTAL LESIONS OF THE CRIBRIFORM PLATE IN DOGS

Survey radiography, linear tomography, and computed tomography were used to image cribriform plate lesions that were created experimentally using intramedullary pins in 18 dog cadaver skulls. Computed and linear tomographic images were taken along the dorsal imaging plane. Studies were independently reviewed by five observers. Results were combined so that the relative sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of each imaging technique could be compared using chi-square analysis. Computed tomography proved to be significantly more sensitive and accurate (p<0.05) than either linear tomography or survey radiography. Computed tomographic images were consistently of good to excellent quality for imaging the cribriform plate. It was concluded that computed tomography of the skull using a dorsal imaging plane was the best available imaging modality for detecting 3-mm and 5-mm experimentally created cribriform plate defects.