HR-pQCT BASED INDIVIDUAL TRABECULA SEGMENTATION (ITS) AND NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT (FE) ANALYSES OF HUMAN DISTAL RADIUS AND TIBIA

摘要

High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) hasbecome a widely used clinical imaging modality that provides three dimensional assessments of trabecular and cortical bone microstructure. Based onthe HR-pQCT scans, individual trabecula segmentation (ITS) technique canfurther segment the trabecular network into trabecular plates and rods. TheITS-based morphological assessment technique has been successfully appliedto a variety of clinical studies using HR-pQCT. In addition, HR-pQCT basedfinite element (FE) analysis has been used to evaluate bone stiffness, animportant predictor of fracture risk. However, the accuracy of HR-pQCT basedITS and FE analyses of human distal radius and tibia have not been fullyvalidated through comparison with gold-standard mCT-based morphologicalanalyses and direct mechanical testing results.