Hw. Chung et al., 3-DIMENSIONAL NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE MICROIMAGING OF TRABECULAR BONE, Journal of bone and mineral research, 10(10), 1995, pp. 1452-1461
The conventional approach to measuring structural parameters in trabec
ular bone rests on stereology from optical images, derived hem section
s of embedded bone. In order to provide data that are statistically re
presentative of a sufficiently large volume, multiple sections need to
be analyzed in each of the three orthogonal planes, In this work, an
alternative technique is presented which is based on three-dimensional
(3D) volumetric proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microimaging,
The method presented provides images from 9 x 9 x 4 mm(3) volumes of
defatted bone specimens in 15-20 minutes scan time at isotropic resolu
tion corresponding to (78 mu m)(3) voxel size, Surface-rendered images
of bovine and human trabecular bone are shown and an algorithm was de
veloped and implemented for determining the orientation and magnitude
of the principal axes of the mean intercept length tenser.