Improving osteoporosis diagnosis in children using image texture analysis

Abstract

Bone mineral density (BMD) is used in clinical medicine as an indirect indicator of osteoporosis and fracture risk. From a technical point of view Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) should be the gold standard in bone densitometry. On the other hand, it is known that a greater percentage increase in skin dose is needed as the patient size is increased: positive results and side effect of long-term steroid treatment as obesity have been found for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), characterized by a progressive muscle degeneration and substitution with fat. The present work is an effort to improve osteoporosis diagnostic efficacy in children by analyzing the trabecular bone texture in CT L3 vertebra by two methods which are independent of image intensity: fractal dimension with power spectrum and wavelet packets. As results, comparing healthy children (44 children both sexes) with osteoporotic subjects (13 adult women, aged 52-87 years) great differences were noticed in all image texture indicators (p<0.0146). For DMD children (7 boys, not overweight) classified by z-score as osteoporotic because of their low BMD, texture image analysis did not exhibited high spatial frequencies as in the osteoporotic group; the probability that these two groups were similar was weak (p<0.0059), suggesting a more similar bone condition to normal or osteopenia. None of the pediatric groups exhibited as high spatial frequencies as did the osteoporotic women group. These analyses could help to determine osteoporosis in children, where it is often a diagnostic challenge.

Correlation of Bone Textural Parameters with Age in the Context of Orthopedic X-ray Studies

“…Textural bone assessment for osteoporosis evaluation was provided on different parts of the skeletal system, such as the jaw [65] and head [66], and with the use of different modalities as CT and MR [67]. Studies on bone mineralization were also evaluated in children [68]. However, bone mineral density was studied already with the use of textural methods, and works where age assessment was performed are lacking; therefore, we assume that our study will have an important contribution to the current literature status.…”

Assessing bone mineral density in non-weight bearing regions of the body: a texture analysis approach using abdomen and pelvis computed tomography Hounsfield units—a cross-sectional study

“…Although the “rectangular region” indicated in the methods was used for this selection, there is still potential for subjectivity and variation in the selection process, which might impact the accuracy of the results. We acknowledge this limitation and have strived to mitigate it through rigorous methodology and consistency in the selection process ( 27 , 28 ). Additionally, juxtaposing our results with QCT-derived BMD measures could solidify the validity and applicability of our approach.…”

The fractal and textural analysis of glomeruli in obese and non-obese patients

“…Textural analysis is a mathematical method for estimating the structure of two-dimensional objects such as images and micrographs (Castellanos et al, 15 Galavis et al, 16 Harrison et al 17 , Mayerhoefer et al 18 , and Linder et al 19 ).…”