Morphometric analysis of digital radiographic bone images for trabecular bone structure

A morphometric analysis system of digital radiographic images was constructed for the clinical evaluation of bone trabecular structural change. This system consisted of computed radiography, a mathematical morphological filter, skeletal morphometric measurements, star volume analysis, and node-strut analysis. The computed radiographic data were morphologically processed, and the trabecular structure was extracted as binary skeletal images. Analyses were made with regard to the skeletal number, separation, perimeter, complexity, continuity, and connectivity. A trial study of this system was used to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of vitamin K₂ in the osteoporotic patients. The system enabled the quantitative evaluation of bone trabecular structural change. Significant differences were observed in the parameters of the skeletal perimeter, skeletal number, and skeletal connectivity in the femur, and improvements in the trabecular structure were indicated. In the lumbar vertebra, significant differences were observed in nearly the same parameters as the femur, although the trabecular structure had deteriorated. These results suggest that the system for bone morphometric analysis of digital radiographic images is useful for the evaluation of structural change in bone trabeculation. Source of support This work was performed at Kanagawa Dental College, Research Center of Advanced Technology for Craniomandibular Function and was supported by a grant-in-aid for Bioventure Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.