Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25306436›Full record

ArticleBMC medical imaging2014

3D facial landmarks: Inter-operator variability of manual annotation.

Jens Fagertun, Stine Harder, Anders Rosengren, Christian Moeller, Thomas Werge, Rasmus R Paulsen, Thomas F Hansen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical imaging, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. [Establishment and evaluation of a similarity measurement model for orthognathic patients based on the 3D craniofacial features].Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences · 2025
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  10. The Ability to Sustain Facial Expressions.The Journal of craniofacial surgery · 2024
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  12. Automatic Neurocranial Landmarks Detection from Visible Facial Landmarks Leveraging 3D Head Priors.Clinical image-based procedures, fairness of AI in medical imaging, and ethical and philosophical issues in medical imaging : 12th International Workshop, CLIP 2023 1st International Workshop, FAIMI 2023 and 2nd International Workshop, ... · 2023
    Article
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  14. [Automatic determination of mandibular landmarks based on three-dimensional mandibular average model].Beijing da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Peking University. Health sciences · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jens Fagertun
Stine Harder
Anders Rosengren
Christian Moeller
Thomas Werge
Rasmus R Paulsen
Thomas F HansenInstitute for Biological Psychiatry Mental Health Center Sct Hans Copenhagen University Hospital, Boseupvej 2, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark. thomas.hansen@regionh.dk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundManual annotation of landmarks is a known source of variance, which exist in all fields of medical imaging, influencing the accuracy and interpretation of the results. However, the variability of human facial landmarks is only sparsely addressed in the current literature as opposed to e.g. the research fields of orthodontics and cephalometrics. We present a full facial 3D annotation procedure and a sparse set of manually annotated landmarks, in effort to reduce operator time and minimize the variance.

methodFacial scans from 36 voluntary unrelated blood donors from the Danish Blood Donor Study was randomly chosen. Six operators twice manually annotated 73 anatomical and pseudo-landmarks, using a three-step scheme producing a dense point correspondence map. We analyzed both the intra- and inter-operator variability, using mixed-model ANOVA. We then compared four sparse sets of landmarks in order to construct a dense correspondence map of the 3D scans with a minimum point variance.

resultsThe anatomical landmarks of the eye were associated with the lowest variance, particularly the center of the pupils. Whereas points of the jaw and eyebrows have the highest variation. We see marginal variability in regards to intra-operator and portraits. Using a sparse set of landmarks (n=14), that capture the whole face, the dense point mean variance was reduced from 1.92 to 0.54 mm.

conclusionThe inter-operator variability was primarily associated with particular landmarks, where more leniently landmarks had the highest variability. The variables embedded in the portray and the reliability of a trained operator did only have marginal influence on the variability. Further, using 14 of the annotated landmarks we were able to reduced the variability and create a dense correspondences mesh to capture all facial features.

Indexed as

Observer VariationAdolescentAdultAgedAnatomic LandmarksFaceFemaleHealthy VolunteersHumansImage Processing, Computer-AssistedImaging, Three-DimensionalMaleMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsSoftwareYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID25306436
PMCPMC4205300

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.