Open AccessQuantifying the Human Subchondral Trabecular Bone Microstructure in Osteoarthritis with Clinical CT
Author(s) -
Oláh Tamás,
Cai Xiaoyu,
Gao Liang,
Walter Frédéric,
Pape Dietrich,
Cucchiarini Magali,
Madry Henning
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.202201692
Subject(s) - osteoarthritis , subchondral bone , medicine , trabecular bone , in vivo , high resolution , radiology , gold standard (test) , tomography , nuclear medicine , biomedical engineering , pathology , articular cartilage , osteoporosis , geology , microbiology and biotechnology , remote sensing , biology , alternative medicine
Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by critical alterations of the subchondral bone microstructure, besides the well‐known cartilaginous changes. Clinical computed tomography (CT) detection of quantitative 3D microstructural subchondral bone parameters is applied to monitor changes of subchondral bone structure in different stages of human OA and is compared with micro‐CT, the gold standard. Determination by clinical CT (287 µm resolution) of key microstructural parameters in tibial plateaus with mild‐to‐moderate and severe OA reveals strong correlations to micro‐CT (35 µm), high inter‐ and intraobserver reliability, and small relative differences. In vivo, normal, mild‐to‐moderate, and severe OA are compared with clinical CT (331 µm). All approaches detect characteristic expanded trabecular structure in severe OA and fundamental microstructural correlations with clinical OA stage. Multivariate analyses at various in vivo and ex vivo imaging resolutions always reliably separate mild‐to‐moderate from severe OA (except mild‐to‐moderate OA from normal), revealing a striking similarity between 287 µm clinical and 35 µm micro‐CT. Thus, accurate structural measurements using clinical CT with a resolution near the trabecular dimensions are possible. Clinical CT offers an opportunity to quantitatively monitor subchondral bone microstructure in clinical and experimental settings as an advanced tool of investigating OA and other diseases affecting bone architecture.