Technical Considerations for Microstructural Analysis of Human Trabecular Bone from Specimens Excised from Various Skeletal Sites

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of repositioning, systematic displacements of the region of interest (ROI), and acquisition parameters (scan mode and integration time) on quantitative analysis of human trabecular bone microstructure at various skeletal sites, using microcomputed tomographic (microCT) technology. We investigated 28 cylindrical specimens of human trabecular bone (length 14 mm, diameter 8 mm) from four skeletal sites (femoral neck, greater trochanter, second lumbar vertebra, and distal radius). These specimens were selected from over 200 microCT measurements, in order to cover a large range of bone volume fraction (BV/TV) observed at each site. Cylindrical ROIs (length 6 mm, diameter 6 mm) were examined twice at an isotropic resolution of 26 microm, 8 weeks apart. In addition, comparative analyses were performed for displacements of the volumes of interest (VOIs) by 1, 2, 3, and 4 mm (83.4%, 66.6%, 50%, and 33.3% overlap), respectively. Eventually, comparative measurements were obtained at different resolution scan modes and integration times. The results show that microCT measurements are highly reproducible (range of the root mean square coefficient variation % (RMS CV%) = 0.64% to 1.29% for BV/TV at different sites). Displacements of the VOI of up to 4 mm generally led to non significant systematic differences in mean values of < 10%. When comparing various combinations of resolution scan modes and integration times, the use of an integration time of 100 ms was found to be preferable for determining microstructural parameters from human samples with this microCT scanner.

Trabecular bone histomorphometric measurements and contrast-to-noise ratio in CBCT

“…Specimens of the radius have, however, previously been used in many studies describing trabecular bone microarchitecture. 17,28,29 The similarity between the radius and mandible (trabecular bone enclosed in compact bone) suggests that the results may also be applicable for the mandible. This may imply the possibility to use CBCT images for studies on bone structure in the mandible aiming also for osteoporotic screening.…”

The role of fabric in the quasi-static compressive mechanical properties of human trabecular bone from various anatomical locations

“…The scans were acquired for the central 6 mm (length) of the specimen using a µCT 20 scanner (Scanco Medical, Bassersdorf, Switzerland) as described previously (Nagele et al 2004). In brief, the resolution was set to 26 µm (isotropic), similar to a previous study on human trabecular bone (Hildebrand et al 1999), and at an integration time of 100 ms.…”

Age- and gender-dependent changes in three-dimensional microstructure of cortical and trabecular bone at the human femoral neck

“…The inferior cortex was chosen as the site, where the femoral neck cortex is the thickest [23]. Trabecular specimen of 8×8×8-mm cube was obtained in the middle of femoral neck, perpendicular to the primary trabecular orientation of each individual femur [24].…”