Anisotropy estimation of trabecular bone in gray-scale: Comparison between cone beam and micro computed tomography data

Abstract

Measurement of anisotropy of trabecular bone has clinical relevance in osteoporosis. In this study, anisotropy measurements of 15 trabecular bone biopsies from the radius estimated by different fabric tensors on images acquired through cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and micro computed tomography (micro-CT) were compared. The results show that the generalized mean intercept length (MIL) tensor performs better than the global gray-scale structure tensor, especially when the von Mises-Fisher kernel is applied. Also, the generalized MIL tensor yields consistent results between the two scanners. These results suggest that this tensor is appropriate for estimating anisotropy in images acquired in vivo through CBCT.