Effect of subvoxel processes on non-destructive characterization of β-tricalcium phosphate bone graft substitutes

The geometric features of bone graft substitutes, such as the pore and pore interconnection sizes, are of paramount importance for their biological performance. Such features are generally characterized by micro-computed tomography (μCT). Unfortunately, the resolution of μCT is often too limited. The aim of this study was to look at the effect of μCT resolution on the geometric characterization of four different bone graft substitutes. An attempt was also made to improve the characterization of these materials by applying a subvoxelization algorithm. The results revealed that both approaches increased the accuracy of the geometric characterization. They also showed that the interconnection size in particular was affected. Comparing the results obtained from the scanned and numerical subvoxelization datasets revealed a minor difference of less than 2.5% for the porosity values. The difference for the pore sizes was up to 10%. Considerable differences of up to 35-50% were found for the interconnection sizes. The present study demonstrates how complex geometric characterization is and how important it is for biomaterial researchers to be aware of the impact of μCT resolution on the pore and pore interconnection sizes.