Software for bone histomorphometry by means of a digitizer

A set of programs is described by which a consistent morphometry of bone sections can be performed. The programs are written in FORTRAN IV in a PDP 11/10 minicomputer, under the RT-11 operating system. The bone sections are run through the field of vision of the microscope using a scanning stage in one of several preselected courses at a magnification suitable for the parameters that are being put in. When input is completed, a print-out is produced with measured and derived parameters, personal data (protected by a code) and a comment file, all of which are stored for later retrieval and statistical evaluation. The programs were developed to be used in a system in which the bone sections are projected (by a projection microscope) onto a digitizer connected to the computer.