Clinical dental cone beam computed tomography - a tool for monitoring trabecular bone structure?

• PurposeThe aim of this in vitro study was to develop a method for quantitative assessment of trabecular bone micro-architecture by using three-dimensional image processing. The imaging data were acquired with cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), traditionally used for facial and temporal bone imaging but also applicable for peripheral skeleton, and with a dedicated high resolution peripheral computed tomograph (HRpQCT), used for in vivo measurements in bone research. The data from micro-computed tomography (µCT) was used as reference. Methods & Materials15 bone samples from the radius, were examined by CBCT and HRpQCT at a resolution of 80 and 82 µm, respectively. After segmentation, the bone structure parameters bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp), trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular nodes (Tb.Nd) and trabecular termini (Tb.Tm) were quantified. Calculations were performed on an ordinary PC using a MATLAB developed in house. ResultsCBCT and HRpQCT overestimated BV/TV and Tb.Th approximately three times, compared to µCT. On the other hand Tb.Nd was highly underestimated. All parameters from CBCT were strongly correlated to µCT, with correlation coefficients above 0.91 for all studied parameters (0.92-0.98) except for Tb.Tm with a correlation of 0.83. For HRpQCT the correlations were slightly weaker, varying from 0.78 to 0.95. ConclusionThe strong correlations between bone structure parameters computed from CBCT and µCT suggests that CBCT may be a good alternative to HRpQCT for monitoring trabecular bone microarchitecture in vivo. 

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik -- Medicinsk bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering -- Medical Image Processing (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Radiologi och bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Osteoporosis

Computer Applications-3D

PACS

CT

Musculoskeletal bone

Head and neck

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)