Computed Tomography Image-Based Measurements of Cortical Bone Thickness for Improved Bone Tissue Processing and Decision-Making

Abstract

Due to challenges with sourcing tissues for autografts, allografts are becoming increasingly popular in the transplantation of human tissue, including bone grafting, and it is important that available donor tissue is processed efficiently while minimizing discarded tissue. This paper describes the development of a computed tomography (CT) image-based system to nondestructively measure cortical-bone thickness of a donor sample, which helps determine how the tissue should be processed to maximize tissue utilization. The system uses a CT scanner to collect three-dimensional data of the donor tissue. The data is then processed into two-dimensional tomograms, which are processed using software developed to measure cortical-bone thickness. Based on these measurements, a score is assigned to the cortical bone that helps determine the types and sizes of allografts that can be processed from the tissue. It was demonstrated that high-resolution (85–200 microns) images can be generated and analyzed quickly with scan times as fast as 8 min and software run times of less than 5 seconds for 464 thickness measurements. This paper concludes that this process is an effective and efficient method to generate quantitative metrics that can be used to make more informed decisions on the processing of bone tissue for allograft production.