Search

Background: The number of in vivo clinical biomedical experiments based on computed tomography is increasing. International radiation-protection bodies are promoting the use of low-dose computed tomography to reduce radiation absorption by the subject undergoing imaging. On the other hand no data exist in the literature to quantify whether or not low-dose computed tomography would lead to a decrease of result quality when used for three-dimensional bone modeling and related measurements., Methods: This paper aimed at finding a consensus between minimal X-ray radiation of the subject, and satisfactory image data quality, especially for accurate three-dimensional bone modeling. Several standard computed tomography and low-dose computed tomography sequences were analyzed in three tests and statistically compared., Findings: Absence of significant difference between standard and low-dose computed sequences indicated that the low-dose setting would not produce less accurate three-dimensional models, while it decreased the effective X-ray dose up to 90% compared to standard settings., Interpretation: Low-dose computed tomography seems suitable for accurate three-dimensional bone modeling, while the related effective X-ray radiation is low. Such setting is therefore advised for any in vivo medical imaging aiming to collect bone data.

An in vivo method for joint kinematics visualization and analysis is described. Low-dose computed tomography allowed three-dimensional joint modeling, and electrogoniometry collected joint kinematic data. Data registration occurred using palpated anatomical landmarks to obtain interactive computer joint simulation. The method was applied on one volunteer's ankle, and reproducibility was tested (maximal discrepancy: 3.6 deg and 5.5 mm for rotation and translation respectively).