Evaluation of in-vivo measurement errors associated with micro-computed tomography scans by means of the bone surface distance approach. Issue 11 (November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lu, Yongtao; Boudiffa, Maya; Dall'Ara, Enrico; Bellantuono, Ilaria; Viceconti, Marco
• Is Part Of: Medical engineering & physics. Volume 37:Issue 11(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1091
• Page End: 1097
• Publication Date: 2015-11
• Subjects: In vivo µCT -- Bone adaptation -- Bone surface distance -- Mouse tibia -- Repeated scans; Biomedical engineering -- Periodicals; Biomedical Engineering -- Periodicals; Physics -- Periodicals; Génie biomédical -- Périodiques; Biomedical engineering; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.08.017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-4533

Abstract

Highlights: The experimental error associated with in vivo µCT measurements of bone microarchitecture was analysed. The bone surface distance approach was proposed to analyse the error. The inevitable error should be considered towards a better interpretation of bone adaptations. Abstract: In vivo micro-computed tomography (µCT) scanning is an important tool for longitudinal monitoring of the bone adaptation process in animal models. However, the errors associated with the usage of in vivo µCT measurements for the evaluation of bone adaptations remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the measurement errors using the bone surface distance approach. The right tibiae of eight 14-week-old C57BL/6 J female mice were consecutively scanned four times in an in vivo µCT scanner using a nominal isotropic image voxel size (10.4 µm) and the tibiae were repositioned between each scan. The repeated scan image datasets were aligned to the corresponding baseline (first) scan image dataset using rigid registration and a region of interest was selected in the proximal tibia metaphysis for analysis. The bone surface distances between the repeated and the baseline scan datasets were evaluated. It was found that the average (±standard deviation) median and 95th percentile bone surface distances were 3.10 ± 0.76 µm and 9.58 ± 1.70 µm, respectively. This study indicated that there were inevitable errors associated with the in vivo µCT measurements of bone microarchitecture and these errors should be taken into account for a better interpretation of bone adaptations measured with in vivo µCT.