Assessment of simulated osteoporosis in alveolar bone using optical coherence tomography

Steoporosis is a skeletal disorder that compromises bone resistance and its diagnosis is usually performed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Thus, the search for efficient diagnostic methods that do not involve the emission of ionizing radiation is necessary. This study proposed to use the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to evaluate osteoporosis in alveolar bone. Osteoporosis lesions is simulated in vitro in porcine bones, and imaging is performed by OCT and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). A developed algorithm is proposed to calculate the optical attenuation coefficient ( μ _t ), mean optical attenuation coefficient ( $$ ), integrated reflectivity (ΔR) and bone density ( BD). The $$ , ΔR and BD parameters shows a good correlation to micro-CT parameters (bone volume/tissue volume and total porosity). The μ _t and $$ methods are negatively impacted by non-uniform intensities distribution in osteoporosis images. In conclusion, BD and ΔR analysis demonstrates to be potential techniques for diagnosis and monitoring of osteoporosis using OCT.