FRACTAL PROPERTIES OF CANCELLOUS BONE OF THE ILIAC CREST IN VERTEBRALCRUSH FRACTURE

Fractal analysis is a method for describing complex shapes, including the cancellous structure of bone. It describes the surface texture and form of individual trabecular profiles and the overall cancellous str ucture. Sixty-four postmenopausal women with symptoms of back pain wer e referred for investigation for osteoporosis, The patients were divid ed into two groups for comparison: vertebral crush fracture (n = 31, m ean age 68.58 +/- 6.47 years), and no vertebral crush fracture (n = 33 , mean age 63.36 +/- 7.21 years). Cores of cancellous bone, 3 mm in di ameter, were taken from the iliac crest and sectioned, A box-counting method implemented on an image analyzer was used to measure the fracta l dimension, Three fractal dimensions describing trabecular surface te xture (fractal 1), trabecular shape (fractal 2), and trabecular arrang ement (fractal 3) were measured, indicating that cancellous bone has s ectional self-similarity. Conventional histomorphometry was also perfo rmed on the samples, The results show that fractal 2 is significantly lower in the vertebral crush fracture group than in the nonfracture gr oup (1.15 +/- 0.10 < 1.23 +/- 0.090, p < 0.0013), The histomorphometri c analysis shows that bone surface total volume (p < 0.0002), trabecul ar number (p < 0.0001), and osteoid surface bone surface (p < 0.028) a re significantly lower in the fracture group than the nonfracture grou p, Eroded surface/bone surface (p < 0.056) follows this trend, whereas trabecular separation (p < 0.001) is significantly higher in the frac ture group than in the nonfracture group. Fractal 1 and fractal 3 were not significantly different between study groups, The fractal dimensi on detects changes in the cancellous architecture and gives informatio n about iliac bone transformation in postmenopausal women with vertebr al fracture, (Bone 23: 53-57; 1998) (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc, All rights reserved.