Quantitative measurement of fractional bone volume using digital scanning videodensitometry

A method is described for reproducible and rapid quantitative measurements of fractional bone volume in sections of a bone biopsy. The presence or absence of bone is determined at several thousand points over the entire surface area of each specimen by high-speed digitization and computer analysis of video scans of enlarged microradiographic images of bone sections. An operator interactive light-pen assembly permits selective delineation of desired areas of the video image to facilitate computation of regional bone mass within each specimen. Tests of the reproducibility of the method of performed and are described. The results obtained from application of the method to determine the amount of bone in various age groups and in two groups of patients before and after therapy are also presented. These data indicate the potential of this technique for high volume, high resolution measurements of the fractional bone volume in both investigative and clinical diagnostic studies of age dependent and disease dependent processes.