Measurement reproducibility of magnetic resonance imaging-based finite element analysis of proximal femur microarchitecture for in vivo assessment of bone strength

Abstract

Introduction Osteoporosis is a disease of weak bone. Our goal was to determine the measurement reproducibility of magnetic resonance assessment of proximal femur strength. Methods This study had institutional review board approval, and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. We obtained images of proximal femur microarchitecture by scanning 12 subjects three times within 1 week at 3T using a high-resolution 3-D FLASH sequence. We applied finite element analysis to compute proximal femur stiffness and femoral neck elastic modulus. Results Within-day and between-day root-mean-square coefficients of variation and intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 3.5 to 6.6 % and 0.96 to 0.98, respectively. Conclusion The measurement reproducibility of magnetic resonance assessment of proximal femur strength is suitable for clinical studies of disease progression or treatment response related to osteoporosis bone-strengthening interventions.

Influence of bone lesion location on femoral bone strength assessed by MRI-based finite-element modeling

“…For all subjects, the nondominant hip was imaged with a 3-T whole-body MR imaging unit. In vivo high-resolution MRI images of the hip were obtained using a 26-element receive-coil set up, in which 18 elements from a body matrix coil anteriorly and eight elements from a spine coil posteriorly, with a coil wrapped and secured around the hip [23,24,27,28]. All 20 subjects were scanned using a 3-Dimensional Fast Low-Angle Shot Sequence (FLASH), with scan parameters consisting of: a repetition time (TR) of 37ms, an echo time (TE) of 4.92ms, 0.234mm × 0.234mm, 60 coronal slices, a slice thickness of 1.5mm, a bandwidth of 200 Hz/pixel, a parallel acceleration (generalized auto calibrating partially parallel acquisition) factor of 2, and an acquisition time of 15 minutes 18 seconds [23].…”

“…While there is evidence that CT is more accurate than the Mirels criteria, CT exposes the subject to increased ionizing radiation while also not providing microstructural bone information [21,22]. Focusing on bone microstructure and lesion location in the proximal femur using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and finite element analysis (FEA) [23][24][25], which does not expose patients to any ionizing radiation and obtains more data about bone microstructure, rather than bone macrostructure, may provide valuable information for clinical assessment of treatment and preventing pathologic fracture [26].…”

MRI assessment of bone structure and microarchitecture

“…More recently, Chang et al and Hotca et al investigated the reproducibility of quantitative assessment of microarchitectural and mechanical parameters (computed with linear FEA) in the proximal femur at 3T (11-12 subjects, three scans, twice on 1 day and once 1 week later, 3D FLASH, 0.234 3 0.234 3 1.5 mm). 119,120 For microarchitectural parameters, within-day root-mean-square CVs/ICCs ranged from 2.3-7.8%/0.931-0.989 and between-day root mean square CVs/ICC ranged from 4.0-7.3%/0.934-0.971. For mechanical parameters, within and between day root mean square CVs/ICCs ranged from 3.5-6.6%/0.96-0.98.…”

Micro-Finite Element Analysis of the Proximal Femur on the Basis of High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Images

“…In order to validate the precision of MRI-based FEA analysis of the proximal femur, Chang et al tested the reproducibility of FEA-computed metrics of bone strength (57). Twelve participants without any bone fracture were scanned three times over the course of a week.…”