Age and gender specific characteristics of spongy bone architectonic in lumbar vertebral bodies

Abstract

BackgroundA spine is one of the most often places of fractures in patients with an osteoporosis. Approximately 25% of all women in the world at the age of 70 and 50% of women at the age of 80 years have individual or plural compression fractures of vertebral bodies. The purpose of the research was to establish the age and gender related features of trabecular architectonic in human lumbar vertebra bodies.Methods212 lumbar vertebrae (0 – 88 years old) were utilized. On the digital images of the sagittal sections 3rd lumbar vertebrae were investigated length and diameters vertical and horizontal trabeculae, width of intertrabecular spaces using computer complex “Morpholog” (Fig.1).ResultsOur data suggests that all investigated parameters have a significant age correlation (p<0.0001). During the life time the length of horizontal and vertical trabeculae increases continuously for male and female, as well as, the width of the intratrabecular spaces. Diameters of vertical (Fig.2) and horizontal trabecules (Fig.3) increase from 175.3±6.8 and 73.2±8.2 microns in newborns and reach its peak in late adulthood from 247.8±28.6 and 124.2±10.9 microns; later it diminishes to 243.3±36.0 and 101.4±11.7 microns in elderly stage.ConclusionsUntil elderly age growth of trabeculae was evident. During involution in elderly age, the height of vertebral bodies and trabecular diameters decreases due to osteoporosis.