Abstract
High definition macroradiography was used to provide an image of the detailed structural organization of the cancellous bone in human lumbar vertebrae. The fractal signature analysis (FSA) method was used to quantify the horizontal and vertical trabecular organization recorded within the image. Comparison of the FSA of the posteroanterior and lateral macroradiographs in postmortem lumbar vertebrae showed that neither the superimposition of the neural arch nor the radiographic angle affected the trabecular measurement within the vertebral body. FSA analysis of the trabecular structure measured from the macroradiographs of lumbar vertebrae in two groups of postmenopausal women, with high and low bone mineral density (BMD), showed that the large vertical trabecular structures correlated with the women's body weight (P<0.01–0.03) and body mass index (P<0.005–0.05), the fine horizontal structures correlated with the women's age (P<0.005–0.05), and fine vertical trabecular structures were significantly greater (P<0.005–0.05) in the low compared with the high BMD group.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Riggs BL, Melton LJ (1992) The prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. N Engl J Med 327:620–627
Fogelman I, Rodin A, Blake G (1990) Impact of bone mineral measurements on osteoporosis. Eur J Nucl Med 16:39–52
Genant HK, Faulkner KG, Gluer C-C (1991) Measurement of bone mineral density: current status. Am J Med 91 (suppl 5B): 49S-53S
Wallach S, Feinblatt JD, Avioli LV (1992) The bone quality problem. Calcif Tissue Int 51:169–172
Chevalier F, Laval-Jeantet AM, Laval-Jeantet M, Bergot C (1992) CT image analysis of the vertebral trabecular network in vivo. Calcif Tissue Int 51:8–13
Caligiuri P, Giger M, Favus MJ, Jia H, Doi K, Dixon LB (1993) Computerised radiographic analysis of osteoporosis: preliminary evaluation. Radiol 186:471–474
Buckland-Wright JC (1989) A new high definition microfocal X-ray unit. Br J Radiol 62:201–208
Buckland-Wright JC, Bradshaw CR (1989) Clinical applications of high-definition microfocal radiography. Br J Radiol 62:209–217
Lynch JA, Hawkes DJ, Buckland-Wright JC (1991) Analysis of texture in macroradiographs of osteoarthritic knees using the fractal signature. Phys Med Biol 36:709–722
Lynch JA, Hawkes DJ, Buckland-Wright JC (1991) A robust and accurate method for calculating the fractal signature of texture in macroradiographs of osteoarthritic knees. Med Inform 16:241–251
Pentland AP (1984) Fractal based descriptions of natural scenes. IEEE Trans Pattern Ann Machine Intell PAMI-6:661–674
Feder J (1988) Fractals. New York, Plenum Press
Majumdar S, Weistein RS, Prased RR, Genant HK (1993) The fractal dimension of trabecular bone: a measure of trabecular structure. Calcif Tissue Int 52:168
Lundahl T, Ohley WS, Kay SM, Siffert R (1986) Fractional Brownian-motion: a maximum likelihood estimator and its application to imaging texture. IEEE Trans Med Imaging MI-5: 152–161
Ruttiman UE, Webber RL, Hazelrig JB (1992) Fractal dimension from radiographs of periodontal alveolar bone. A possible diagnostic indicator of osteoporosis. Oral Surg Oral Med Pathol 74:98–110
Bergot C, Laval-Jeantet AM, Preteux F, Meunier A (1988) Measurement of anisotropic vertebral trabecular bone loss during aging by quantitative image analysis. Calcif Tissue Int 43:143–149
Campbell MJ, Machin D (1990) Medical statistics: a commonsense approach. John Wiley, New York
Lentner C (1984) Geigy scientific tables vol. 3, 8th ed. Ciba Geigy Ltd, Basle, p 327
Parfitt AM (1987) Trabecular bone architecture in the pathogenesis and prevention of fracture. Am J Med 82 (suppl 1B):68–72
Martin RB (1991) Determinants of the mechanical properties of bone. J Biomech 24:79–88
Gibson LJ (1985) The mechanical behaviour of cancellous bone. J Biochem 18:317–328
Atkinson PJ (1967) Variation of trabecular structure of vertebrae with age. Calcif Tissue Res 1:24–32
Mosekilde L (1988) Age related changes in vertebral trabecular bone architecture—assessed by a new method. Bone 9:247–250
Remagen W (1989) Osteoporosis. Sandoz Ltd, Basle, p 33
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buckland-Wright, J.C., Lynch, J.A., Rymer, J. et al. Fractal signature analysis of macroradiographs measures trabecular organization in lumbar vertebrae of postmenopausal women. Calcif Tissue Int 54, 106–112 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00296060
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00296060