Assessment of Bone Quality in Osteoporosis - XMT and SEM

Over three hundred Human second lumbar vertebral body samples were obtained via the European Union BIOMED I study ‘Assessment of Bone Quality in Osteoporosis’. Our initial remit was to study density variations of calcified tissues by quantitative backscattered electron imaging (BSE-SEM), for which para-sagittal (vertical) bone slices were embedded in PMMA and block surfaces micro-milled and re-polished [Boyde & Jones. Clin Rheumatol 14: 598, 1995]. Samples were studied by 30μm resolution high-contrast X-ray microtomography [XMT: QMUL MuCat-2 scanner, Mills & Davis] 72h scanning time, giving exact correlation between BSE-SEM and XMT. XMT datasets were rendered in Drishti for visualisation and edification. We selected a few female samples for 3D printing e.g. youngest, post-menopausal, oldest, anterior and central compression fractures and anterior collapse [Cresswell-Boyes, Mills, Davis, Boyde. EORS, Galway, Sep 25-28, 2018].