Department of Internal Medicine, Subdivision of Rheumatology, CAPHRI/NUTRIM, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P. Debyelaan 25, Postbus 5800, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, Netherlands.
INSERM UMR 1033, Université de Lyon, Hôpital E Herriot, 69437 Lyon, cedex 03, France.
Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2014 May;10(5):304-13. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2014.23. Epub 2014 Mar 4.
Imaging is essential to the evaluation of bone and joint diseases, and the digital era has contributed to an exponential increase in the number of publications on noninvasive analytical techniques for the quantification of changes to bone and joints that occur in health and in disease. One such technique is high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT), which has introduced a new dimension in the imaging of bone and joints by providing images that are both 3D and at high resolution (82 μm isotropic voxel size), with a low level of radiation exposure (3-5 μSv). HR-pQCT enables the analysis of cortical and trabecular properties separately and to apply micro-finite element analysis for calculating bone biomechanical competence in vivo at the distal sites of the skeleton (distal radius and distal tibia). Moreover, HR-pQCT makes possible the in vivo assessment of the spatial distribution, dimensions and delineation of cortical bone erosions, osteophytes, periarticular cortical and trabecular microarchitecture, and 3D joint-space volume of the finger joints and wrists. HR-pQCT is, therefore, a technique with a high potential for improving our understanding of bone and joint diseases at the microarchitectural level.
影像学对于骨骼和关节疾病的评估至关重要，数字时代促使大量关于非侵入性分析技术的出版物呈指数级增长，这些技术可用于量化健康和疾病状态下骨骼和关节的变化。其中一种技术是高分辨率外周定量 CT（HR-pQCT），它通过提供三维高分辨率（82μm 各向同性体素大小）图像，同时辐射暴露水平低（3-5μSv），为骨骼和关节成像带来了新维度。HR-pQCT 能够分别分析皮质骨和松质骨的特性，并应用微有限元分析来计算骨骼远端部位（桡骨远端和胫骨远端）的骨生物力学能力。此外，HR-pQCT 还可以在体评估手指关节和腕关节的皮质骨侵蚀、骨赘、关节周围皮质和松质骨微结构以及关节腔 3D 容积的空间分布、尺寸和轮廓。因此，HR-pQCT 是一种具有很大潜力的技术，可以提高我们在微观结构水平上对骨骼和关节疾病的理解。
