Quality control for bone quality parameters affected by subject motion in high-resolution peripheral quantitative...

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Bone Densitometry
• Osteoporosis Research

Background:

• Subject motion during high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) introduces image artifacts.
• These artifacts compromise the morphological analysis of bone quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of automated and manual quality control techniques for motion in HR-pQCT.
• To assess the repeatability and comparability of these grading methods.

Main Methods:

• Manual grading repeatability was assessed within and between laboratories using a standardized scale.
• An automated motion detection technique based on projection moments was developed.
• Both methods were applied to 137 HR-pQCT scan/re-scan pairs from the CaMos study.

Main Results:

• Manual grading demonstrated good repeatability (ICC>0.7) with proper training.
• Density parameters showed higher robustness to motion than structural or finite element parameters.
• Acceptable measurement precision requires manual grading ≤3 or automatic grading (ε(T)) ≤1.2.

Conclusions:

• Both automated and manual grading offer effective quality control for HR-pQCT motion.
• Automated grading provides objective, real-time motion assessment and retrospective analysis capabilities.
• Automated grading is advantageous for multi-center studies and research prioritizing objective quality control.