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Updated: Nov 3, 2025
3D Ultrasound Imaging: Fast and Cost-effective Morphometry of Musculoskeletal Tissue
Published on: November 27, 2017
Musculoskeletal ultrasound for 3D bone modeling: A preliminary study applied to lumbar vertebra
A Forbes1,2, V Cantin2,3, Y Develle1
1Chaire de Recherche en Anatomie Fonctionnelle, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières (QC) Canada, G8Z 4M3, Canada.
Background:
There is no non-invasive in vivo method to assess intervertebral kinematics. Current kinematics models are based on in vitro bone reconstructions from computed tomography (CT)-scan imaging, fluoroscopy and MRIs, which are either expensive or deleterious for human tissues. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is an accessible, easy to use and cost-effective device that allows high-resolution, real-time imaging of bone structure.
Objective:
The aim of this preliminary study was to compare the concordance of 3D bone modeling of lumbar vertebrae between CT-scan and ultrasound imaging and to study the intra and inter-reliability of distances measured on 3D ultrasound bone models.
Methods:
CT-scan, ultrasound, and in situ data of five lumbar vertebrae from the same human specimen were used. All vertebrae were scanned by tomography and a new musculoskeletal ultrasound procedure. Then, 3D bone modeling was created from both CT-scan and ultrasound image data set. Distances between anatomical bones landmarks were measured on the 3D models and compared to in situ measurements.
