Advanced Knee Structure Analysis (AKSA): a comparison of bone mineral density and trabecular texture measurements using computed tomography and high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography of human knee cadavers

摘要

BackgroundA change of loading conditions in the knee causes changes in the subchondral bone and may be a cause of osteoarthritis (OA). However, quantification of trabecular architecture in vivo is difficult due to the limiting spatial resolution of the imaging equipment; one approach is the use of texture parameters. In previous studies, we have used digital models to simulate changes of subchondral bone architecture under OA progression. One major result was that, using computed tomography (CT) images, subchondral bone mineral density (BMD) in combination with anisotropy and global homogeneity could characterize this progression.The primary goal of this study was a comparison of BMD, entropy, anisotropy, variogram slope, and local and global inhomogeneity measurements between high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) and CT using human cadaveric knees. The secondary goal was the verification of the spatial resolution dependence of texture parameters observed in the earlier simulations, two important prerequisites for the interpretation of in vivo measurements in OA patients.