Volumetric Assessment of Bone Microstructures by a 3D Local Binary Patterns –Based Method: Bone Changes with Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) causes progressive degeneration of articular cartilage and pathological changes in subchondral bone, conventionally assessed volumetrically using micro-computed tomography (μCT) imaging in vitro. The local binary patterns (LBP) method has recently been suggested as a new alternative solution to perform analysis of local bone structures from μCT scans. In this study, a novel 3D LBP-based method to provide a new lead in bone microstructural analysis is proposed. In addition to the detailed description of the method, this solution is tested using µCT data of OA human trabecular bone samples, harvested from patients treated with total knee arthroplasty. The method was applied to correlate the distribution of orientations of local patterns with the severity of the disease. The local orientations of the bone fibers changed along the severity of OA, suggesting an adaptation of the bone to the disease. The structural parameters derived from the process were able to provide a new approach for the assessment of the disease, supporting the potential of this volumetric LBP-based method to assess trabecular bone changes.