MRI-based Texture Analysis of Trabecular Bone for Opportunistic Screening of Skeletal Fragility.

CONTEXT: Many individuals at high risk for osteoporosis and fragility fracture are never screened by traditional methods. Opportunistic use of imaging obtained for other clinical purposes is required to foster identification of these patients.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate texture features as a measure of bone fragility, by comparing clinically acquired magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from individuals with and without a history of fragility fracture.

METHODS

This study retrospectively investigated 100 subjects who had lumbar spine MRI performed at our institution. Cases (n = 50) were postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and a confirmed history of fragility fracture. Controls (n = 50) were age- and race-matched postmenopausal women with no known fracture history. Trabecular bone from the lumbar vertebrae was segmented to create regions of interest within which a gray level co-occurrence matrix was used to quantify the distribution and spatial organization of voxel intensity. Heterogeneity in the trabecular bone texture was assessed by several features, including contrast (variability), entropy (disorder), and angular second moment (homogeneity).

RESULTS

Texture analysis revealed that trabecular bone was more heterogeneous in fracture patients. Specifically, fracture patients had greater texture variability (+76% contrast; P = 0.005), greater disorder (+10% entropy; P = 0.005), and less homogeneity (-50% angular second moment; P = 0.005) compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONS

MRI-based textural analysis of trabecular bone discriminated between patients with known osteoporotic fractures and controls. Further investigation is required to validate this promising methodology, which could greatly expand the number of patients screened for skeletal fragility.