Objective: To determine the degree of correlation in the radiological bone age assessment using the Greulich and Pyle method versus automated assessment through BoneXpert® software between 2013 and 2016.
Material and method: Correlation study of diagnostic techniques of 1500 carpal X-rays to assess bone age in patients under 16 years of age from Clínica Alemana de Santiago. X-rays with bone age assessment using the Atlas of Greulich and Pyle (GP) by 1 out of 7 pediatric radiologists, were analyzed using the BoneXpert (BE) software for automated bone age assessment. 100 cases were taken at random for analysis/re-analysis using the BoneXpert method to determine its accuracy. The level of correlation of the measurements was analyzed using the correlation coefficient (Pearson's r) and the variability of the measurements using the Bland-Altman analysis.
Results: 1493 cases were assessed, seven were excluded due to failure in the X-ray technique, 922 females (61.8%), with a median chronological age of 9.96 years and 11.12 years for males (p 0.001). The correlation between manual bone age (GP) and automated bone age using BoneXpert method among radiologists ran ged from 0.91 to 0.93. The Bland-Altman analysis indicated an average difference between manual bone age and bone age using the BoneXpert method of 0.19 years (CI 0.13 to 0.25). In the analysis/ re-analysis of 100 random cases using the BoneXpert software, the correlation was 1.00 (100% accu racy).
Conclusion: The automated analysis using BoneXpert allows for standardized, low-variability, and high-concordance assessment.