Influence of beam hardening artifact in bone interface contact evaluation by 3D X-ray microtomography

Abstract

Trabecular bone screws are commonly used for fixation of fractures inorder to increase holding power in the fine sponge bone. The success of skeletalanchorage using mini screws is related to their stability in the bone tissue. Factorsthat influence the immediate stability of metal implants are related to the designof the device to the quantity and quality of bone and to insertion technique. Thepresent work studied bone interface contact parameter by x-ray microtomography.The results identified the importance of evaluating the metallic artifact around themini screws, which can be assessed by different pixel size dilation image processing.It can be noted a correlation pattern between beam hardening artifact correction andbone interface contact measurements.