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Trabecular bone structure analysis of the spine using clinical MDCT: can it predict vertebral bone strength?

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Abstract

Recent technical improvements have made it possible to determine trabecular bone structure parameters of the spine using clinical multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze trabecular bone structure parameters obtained from clinical MDCT in relation to high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) as a standard of reference and to investigate whether clinical MDCT can predict vertebral bone strength. Fourteen functional spinal segment units between T7 and L3 were harvested from 14 formalin-fixed human cadavers (11 women and 3 men; age 84 ± 10 years). All functional spinal segment units were examined using HR-pQCT (isotropic voxel size of 41 μm3) and a clinical whole-body MDCT (interpolated voxel size of 146 × 146 × 300 μm3). Trabecular bone structure analyses (histomorphometric and texture measures) were performed in the HR-pQCT as well as MDCT images. Vertebral failure load (FL) of the functional spinal segment units was determined in an uniaxial biomechanical test. The HR-pQCT and MDCT derived trabecular bone structure parameters showed correlations ranging from r = 0.60 to r = 0.90 (p < 0.05). Correlations between trabecular bone structure parameters and FL amounted up to r = 0.86 (p < 0.05) using the HR-pQCT images, and up to r = 0.79 (p < 0.05) using the MDCT images. Correlation coefficients of FL versus trabecular bone structure parameters obtained with HR-pQCT and MDCT were not significantly different (p > 0.05). In this cadaver model, the spatial resolution of clinically available whole-body MDCT scanners was suitable for trabecular bone structure analysis of the spine and to predict vertebral bone strength.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG BA 4085/1-2).

Conflict of interest

The authors state no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Radiologie, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Baum, Martin Gräbeldinger, Eduardo Grande Garcia, Ernst J. Rummeny & Jan S. Bauer

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Christoph Räth

  3. Klinik für Orthopädie und Sportorthopädie, Abteilung für Biomechanik, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Eduardo Grande Garcia & Rainer Burgkart

  4. Universitätsklinik für Radiodiagnostik, Medizinische Universität Wien, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Janina M. Patsch

  5. Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA

    Thomas M. Link

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  1. Thomas Baum
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Correspondence to Thomas Baum.

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Baum, T., Gräbeldinger, M., Räth, C. et al. Trabecular bone structure analysis of the spine using clinical MDCT: can it predict vertebral bone strength?. J Bone Miner Metab 32, 56–64 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-013-0465-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-013-0465-6

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