Prediction of Osteoporosis using Compositive Analysis of Trabecular Patterns on Proximal Femur

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the evaluation parameters' osteoporosis predictability in accordance with measuring regions by analyzing the correlations between bone mineral density and trabecular patterns derived from different measuring regions. Experimental subjects were a total of 40 female patients after menopause aged over 40 years, and were classified into 20 control and 20 osteoporotic groups according to the T-score. Bone mineral density was measured on femoral neck, trochanter and ward's triangle by DEXA(Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry). We designated ROI(Region of Interest) with 50 x 50 pixel size on each measuring regions, and extracted trabecular patterns by using existing image processing method. We also selected a total of eight evaluation parameters that are categorized into structural(mean gray level, area, perimeter, thickness and terminal distance), skeletonized parameters(number, length) and fractal dimension. As a result, it was observed that area, perimeter, thickness, terminal distance, number, length and fractal dimension reflected the bone mineral density with high statistical validity(p<0.003). We also confirmed that the evaluation parameters could predict the osteoporosis more efficiently.