Quantitative metrics of bone quality determined at the distal radius using photon-counting CT

To determine the accuracy of photon-counting-detector CT (PCD-CT) at deriving bone morphometric indices and demonstrate utility in vivo in the distal radius.

Ten cadaver wrists were scanned using PCD-CT and high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HRpQCT). Correlation between PCD-CT and HRpQCT morphometric indices was determined. Agreement was assessed by Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (Lin’s CCC). Wrist PCD-CTs of patients between 02/2022 and 08/2023 were also evaluated for clinical utility. Morphometric indices of the in vivo distal radii were extracted and compared between patients with or without osteoporosis.

In cadavers, strong correlation between PCD-CT and HRpQCT was observed for cortical thickness (Spearman correlation, ρ, 0.85), trabecular spacing (ρ = 0.98), and trabecular bone volume fraction (ρ = 0.68). Moderate negative correlation (ρ =  − 0.49) was observed for trabecular thickness. PCD-CT shows good agreement to HRpQCT for cortical thickness, trabecular spacing, and trabecular bone volume fraction (Lin’s CCC = 0.80, 0.94, and 0.86, respectively) but poor agreement (Lin’s CCC =  − 0.1) for trabecular thickness. In forty participants (31 adults and 9 pediatric), bone morphometrics indices for cortical thickness, trabecular thickness, trabecular spacing, and trabecular bone volume fraction were 0.99 mm (IQR, 0.89–1.06), 0.38 mm (IQR, 0.25–0.40), 0.82 mm (IQR, 0.72–1.05), and 0.28 (IQR, 0.25–0.33), respectively. Patients with osteoporosis had statistically significantly larger trabecular spacing (p = 0.025) and lower trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (p = 0.042).

This study demonstrates the agreement of PCD-CT to HRpQCT in cadavers of most cortical and bone morphometrics examined and provide in vivo quantitative metrics of bone microarchitecture from routine clinical PCD-CT images of the distal radius.