Radiographic biomarkers on grayscale gradient transition zone improve differentiation of deep caries/reversible pulpitis and chronic pulpitis through diagnostic model analysis.

objectivesTo explore the effectiveness of radiographic biomarkers on transition area (TA)-the grayscale gradient zone from carious lesion to normal dentine on radiographs-for identifying deep caries/reversible pulpitis and chronic pulpitis via diagnostic model analysis.

methodsThis retrospective study included 392 caries cases. Canny edge detection was used to define the TA region. Texture parameters were extracted from the carious lesions (S1) and TA region (S2) by MaZda software on radiographs. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis was used to select biomarkers. Diagnostic models were fitted and model performance was furtherly evaluated by internal and external validation, decision curve analysis was applied to evaluate clinical benefits.

resultsTA-based biomarkers (e.g., TA thickness, TA ratio, S2-S(5,-5) contrast and S2-WavEnLL-s-4) were significantly associated with the diagnosis of deep caries/reversible pulpitis versus chronic pulpitis, model performance significantly improved when adding the above biomarkers (likelihood-ratio test; p < 0.05, with an increase of AUC from 0.67 (reference model) to 0.89), and these results were maintained in a small external validation cohort. Clinical benefit was greater with the application of TA-based biomarkers.

conclusionTA-based biomarkers are proven to be an effective tool in differentiating deep caries/reversible pulpitis and chronic pulpitis, preoperative diagnosis was improved with the above biomarkers compared to the reference model.