Morphological and biomechanical analyses of the subchondral mineralized zone in human sacral facet joints: Application to improved diagnosis of osteoarthritis

Abstract

The anatomy of the facet joint subchondral mineralized zone (SMZ) is the main parameter used in diagnosing osteoarthritis. Usually, a single CT scan slice is used to measure the thickness, but the measurement is highly location-dependent. Bone mineral density (BMD) and porosity could be more reliable than thickness for detecting SMZ sclerosis, and linking them to stiffness can provide insights into the mechanism of osteoarthritis progression. The goal of this study was two-fold: (1) to assess spatial heterogeneity in thickness, BMD, and porosity within the non-pathological human facet joint SMZ; (2) to correlate these measurements with the static modulus of elasticity (MOEsta ). Four non-pathological facet joints were excised and imaged using micro-computed tomography (µCT) to measure SMZ thickness, BMD, and porosity. A total of eight parallelepiped SMZ samples were similarly analyzed and then mechanically tested. The mean SMZ BMD, porosity, and thickness (± Standard Deviation) of the whole facet joints were 611 ± 35 mgHA/cc, 9.8 ± 1.3%, and 1.39 ± 0.41 mm, respectively. The mean BMD, porosity, and MOEsta of the eight SMZ samples were 479 ± 23 mgHA/cc, 12 ± 0.01%, and 387 ± 138 MPa, respectively, with a positive rank correlation between BMD and porosity. BMD and porosity were more homogeneous within the facet joint than thickness and they could be more reliable parameters than thickness for detecting SMZ sclerosis. The values for the physiological SMZ and MOEsta of human facets joints obtained here were independent of BMD. SMZ BMD and porosity were related to each other.

Systematic Review Shows Tele-Rehabilitation Might Achieve Comparable Results to Office-Based Rehabilitation for Decreasing Pain in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

“…Osteoarthritis (OA) is a musculoskeletal disease that induces degeneration of cartilage, subchondral bone, and joint and tissue mechanics alterations [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Affecting more than 32.5 million adults in the United States alone, OA is the second most costly health condition treated in US hospitals [ 6 ], accounting for $16.5 billion, or 4.3%, of the combined cost of all hospitalizations [ 7 ].…”

3D morphological analyses of subchondral mineralized zone in mice knee joint from HR-μCT scan

“…Regarding vascular porosity geometrical properties and percentage, values obtained with our new algorithm spread in the range of (±41.51). Our results regarding CC, SMZ and SB thickness shows that it doesn't present homogeneous values as it has been previosuly found in human (Berteau et al 2015).…”

Micro-computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy and energy X-ray spectroscopy studies of facet joint degeneration: A comparison to clinical imaging

“…Unfortunately, these facet joint grading systems often have no reliability analysis or fail to meet the current recommendations for reliability (Little et al, 2015). However, studies assessing the validity of clinical imaging based grading systems by comparative investiga-tions with microstructural data have been completed for other joints, though rarely for lumbar facet joints (Berteau et al, 2015;Gersing et al, 2016;Hawellek et al, 2016;Reina et al, 2016;Han et al, 2017).…”