Inhomogeneity of Bone Mineral Distribution in 2D Projection Images of Trabecular Bone is Associated With Its Micro-Architecture and Biomechanical Properties

Bone quality is significantly correlated with the inhomogeneous distribution of material and ultrastructural properties (e.g., modulus and mineralization) of the tissue. Current techniques for quantifying inhomogeneity consist of descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation. However, these parameters do not describe the spatial variations of bone properties. The objective of this study was to apply a novel stochastic model [1] to characterize and quantitatively describe the spatial variation of bone properties such as mineralization.