Abstract
Preliminary work on the development of a quantitative method of characterizing the radiographic appearance of cancellous bone is described. The method is based upon calculation of the “fractal dimension” in regions of interest of digitized radiographs. The method was applied to standard pre-operative radiographs of the hip and proximal femur of fifteen patients who were to undergo total hip arthroplasty. Cancellous bone samples were retained at arthroplasty and their compressive strength and ash density assessed. The fractal dimension was found to correlate more strongly with compressive strength than did a conventional method of assessing bone quality (the Singh Index). Among the potential benefits of the new technique is the possibility of providing guidance in the pre-operative selection of the optimal method of implant fixation for an individual patient.
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© 1994 Springer Basel AG
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Caldwell, C.B., Rosson, J., Surowiak, J., Hearn, T. (1994). Use of the Fractal Dimension to Characterize the Structure of Cancellous Bone in Radiographs of the Proximal Femur. In: Nonnenmacher, T.F., Losa, G.A., Weibel, E.R. (eds) Fractals in Biology and Medicine. Mathematics and Biosciences in Interaction. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8501-0_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8501-0_27
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
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