3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ENTIRE VERTEBRAL BODIES

This paper describes a technique for 3-D reconstruction of large cance llous bone regions. The output is a 3-D array describing the original cancellous bone region, and the output can be used for any kind of mea surement of the bone architecture. The technique was developed as a to ol for researchers conducting experimental and clinical studies relate d to cancellous bone architecture and, ultimately, to cancellous bone quality. A set of new and unbiased methods for quantification of cance llous bone has been a stimulus for the development of the technique, a s the quantification methods rely on 3-D information. The technique is based on automated serial sectioning, and all steps from specimen pre paration to image segmentation are described in detail. Examples of 3- D reconstructed vertebral bodies are given. By use of the described te chnique, between 300 and 600 sections can be made and registered per h our, which means that an average vertebral body can be reconstructed i n about 2 h. Compared to previous implementations of the general princ iple of serial sectioning, this is a significant improvement both in r esolution and in time efficiency.