Carpal bone maturation during childhood and adolescence: assessment by quantitative computed tomography. Preliminary...

The aim of our study was to measure the volume of each carpal bone during childhood and adolescence by image processing from computed tomography (CT) scans, and to analyze the relationship between the eight carpal bones. Thirteen CT scans were performed in nine normal prepubertal, peripubertal and post-pubertal children, six boys and three girls, aged 5-14 years. Each scan was processed in order to extract the carpal bones. The volume was computed for each bone. There was a significant correlation between carpal bone volume and age (0.55 < r < 0.79), and a very strong correlation between the volume of a given carpal bone and the volume of all the others, whatever the age (0.87 < r < 0.99, p < 0.01). Image processing is a potentially useful method for assessing bone maturation. The constant ratio between carpal bone volumes indicates that these bones interact with each other in wrist bone maturation.