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Updated: Sep 4, 2025

Software-Assisted Quantitative Measurement of Osteoarthritic Subchondral Bone Thickness
Published on: March 18, 2022
Influence of differences in bone morphology on the distribution patterns of subchondral bone density across the
Yukinori Tsukuda1, Yuichiro Matsui2,3, Kaori Endo4
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Otaru General Hospital, Wakamatsu 1-1-1, Otaru, Hokkaido, 047-8550, Japan.
Abstract:
We aimed to clarify the effects of morphological patterns of the trapezium and first metacarpal on the distribution of subchondral bone density across the articular surface of the trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint using computed tomography osteoabsorptiometry. Thirty-three patients with normal TMC joints were evaluated. The percentages of the high-density areas in the radial-dorsal and ulnar-volar regions of the trapezium were significantly higher than that in the ulnar-dorsal region, and that of the ulnar-dorsal region of the first metacarpal was significantly lower than in the other three regions. The percentage of the high-density area of the radial-dorsal region of the trapezium and trapezial inclination (TI) showed a significant positive correlation, and the percentages of the high-density areas in the ulnar-dorsal and ulnar-volar regions had significant negative correlations with TI at the articular surface of the first metacarpal. These results indicate that bony morphologic differences in the trapezium affect the distribution pattern of subchondral bone density through the TMC joint.
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