micro-computed tomography reconstruction protocols on bone microarchitecture analysis

Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathol.. - 6d ago Preview

 
 
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Publication date: Available online 21 May 2019

Source: Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology

Author(s): Eduarda Helena Leandro Nascimento, Hugo Gaêta-Araujo, Danieli Moura Brasil, Daniela Verardi Madlum, Deborah Queiroz Freitas, Francisco Haiter-Neto, Christiano Oliveira-Santos

Abstract

Objective

To assess the influence of reconstruction protocols of micro-computed tomography (microCT) images on analyses of bone microarchitecture.

Study design

MicroCT images of the maxillae of 5 Wistar rats were reconstructed with different protocols by varying the levels of the following tools: smoothing filter (SF, 2 to 6), ring artifact correction (RAC, 5 to 15), and beam hardening correction (BHC, 15% to 60%). A control protocol (P0, without any correction tool) and a standard protocol (SP, according to the manufacturer's recommendation: SF=2, RAC=5, BHC=45%) were also obtained. For each protocol, eight bone microarchitecture parameters were calculated (BV/TV, BS/TV, Tb.N, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp, DA, Conn.Den, and Po-tot) using CTAn software. Test protocols were compared with the SP using one-way ANOVA and the Dunnet post-hoc test (α=0.05).

Results

An inverse relationship was observed between BHC tool levels and all microarchitecture parameters except BV/TV and Tb.Th. The combination of BHC and SF significantly influenced all microarchitecture parameters except for DA, for which all protocols were similar to the SP (p>0.05).

Conclusions

Calculation of bone microarchitecture parameters is influenced by the applied levels of artifact correction tools, mainly BHC and SF. It is necessary to standardize such tool levels for correct data interpretation.