Nature: Nano-CT technique paves way for better osteoporosis diagnosis
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Osteoporosis is diagnosed almost exclusively by establishing an overall reduction in bone density. This approach, however, gives little information about the associated local structure and bone density changes, offered Franz Pfeiffer, PhD, professor for Biomedical Physics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen in Germany and his colleagues.
According to the authors, the new technique generates quantitative high-contrast 3D electron density maps from phase contrast information without reverting to assumptions of a weak phase object or negligible absorption and measures overall x-ray beam intensity absorbed by the object under examination at each angle. It also measures the diffracted parts of the beam. The diffraction patterns are then processed using an algorithm that was designed for the study, which takes into account both typical x-ray absorption as well as the more sensitive phase shift of the beam.
The researchers utilized a 25-micrometer, superfine bone specimen of a 12-week old laboratory mouse for their study. The CT images showed cross-sections of cavities where bone cells reside and their roughly 100 nanometer-fine interconnection network, they wrote.
“This [approach] enables us to do research on structural changes related to osteoporosis on a nanoscale and thus develop better therapeutic approaches," said Pfeiffer.