Trabecular Bone Assessment Using Magnetic-Resonance Imaging: A Pilot Study

The aim of this study was to assess trabecular bone morphology via magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) using microcomputed tomography (µCT) as the control group. Porcine bone samples were scanned with T1-weighted turbo spin echo sequence imaging, using TR 25 ms, TE 3.5 ms, FOV 100 × 100 × 90, voxel size 0.22 × 0.22 × 0.50 mm, and scan time of 11:18. µCT was used as the control group with 80 kV, 125 mA, and a voxel size of 16 µm. The trabecular bone was segmented on the basis of a reference threshold value and morphological parameters. Bone volume (BV), Bone-volume fraction (BvTv), Bone specific surface (BsBv), trabecular thickness (TbTh), and trabecular separation (TbSp) were evaluated. Paired t-test and Pearson correlation test were performed at p = 0.05. MRI overestimated BV, BvTv, TbTh, and TbSp values. BsBv was the only parameter that was underestimated by MRI. High statistical correlation (r = 0.826; p < 0.05) was found for BV measurements. Within the limitations of this study, MRI overestimated trabecular bone parameters, but with a statistically significant fixed linear offset.