Abstract
The aim of this study was to quantify sub-resolution trabecular bone morphometrics, which are also related to osteoarthritis (OA), from clinical resolution cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Samples (n = 53) were harvested from human tibiae (N = 4) and femora (N = 7). Grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture and histogram-based parameters were calculated from CBCT imaged trabecular bone data, and compared with the morphometric parameters quantified from micro-computed tomography. As a reference for OA severity, histological sections were subjected to OARSI histopathological grading. GLCM and histogram parameters were correlated to bone morphometrics and OARSI individually. Furthermore, a statistical model of combined GLCM/histogram parameters was generated to estimate the bone morphometrics. Several individual histogram and GLCM parameters had strong associations with various bone morphometrics (|r| > 0.7). The most prominent correlation was observed between the histogram mean and bone volume fraction (r = 0.907). The statistical model combining GLCM and histogram-parameters resulted in even better association with bone volume fraction determined from CBCT data (adjusted R2 change = 0.047). Histopathology showed mainly moderate associations with bone morphometrics (|r| > 0.4). In conclusion, we demonstrated that GLCM- and histogram-based parameters from CBCT imaged trabecular bone (ex vivo) are associated with sub-resolution morphometrics. Our results suggest that sub-resolution morphometrics can be estimated from clinical CBCT images, associations becoming even stronger when combining histogram and GLCM-based parameters.
Highlights
Subchondral bone sclerosis, causing increases in bone volume fraction (BV/TV, ratio of bone volume and tissue volume), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th.), trabecular number (Tb.N.) and a decrease in trabecular separation (Tb.Sp.), has been associated with osteoarthritis (OA)-driven cartilage defects.[2,5,10] These alterations in subchondral bone are often linked to the later stages of OA
Because BV/TV is highly associated with Tb.Th., Tb.Sp., Tb.N. and FD, it is not surprising that Grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and histogram parameters had similar associations with these other morphometric parameters too
We aimed to quantify sub-resolution subchondral bone morphometrics related to OA from clinical cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) ex vivo
Summary
Subchondral bone sclerosis, causing increases in bone volume fraction (BV/TV, ratio of bone volume and tissue volume), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th.), trabecular number (Tb.N.) and a decrease in trabecular separation (Tb.Sp.), has been associated with osteoarthritis (OA)-driven cartilage defects.[2,5,10] These alterations in subchondral bone are often linked to the later stages of OA. In early OA, contrary structural alterations in subchondral bone have been reported within several animal models.[1,9,16] an increase in subchondral bone resorption, due. Computed tomography (CT) modalities provide spatial resolution starting from 100 nm with synchrotron radiation nano-CT up to a 0.2–0.5 mm with clinical CT, enabling the hierarchical imaging of subchondral bone from the sub-cellular level to the organ level.[21] Desktop micro-computed tomography (lCT) imaging has become the gold standard for quantification of bone morphology and microstructure in 3D.24. When approaching to the spatial resolution of clinical CT, trabecular bone structure has been reported to be quantifiable up to 100 lm voxel size.[17] On the other hand, with dental CT-imaged bone, strong associations between the average of the grey-level values and microstructural trabecular bone morphometrics from lCT have been reported in the literature.[15]
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