Morphometric analysis of principal stress trabeculae in the proximal femur

doi:10.12307/2026.726

Abstract

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The principal compressive and tensile trabecular bones in the proximal femur are essential structures responsible for transmitting forces through the hip joint. Given their complex and heterogeneous composition, exploring their microstructural variations will help improve our understanding of principal stress trabeculae.
OBJECTIVE: To extract trabecular microstructural information from various regions of femoral head specimens and study their morphometric patterns, elucidate the microstructural variations of principal stress trabeculae, and provide a theoretical basis for the design of future bionic hip prostheses.
METHODS: Totally 11 fresh femoral heads were obtained from patients with femoral neck fractures. They were scanned by Micro-CT and reconstructed by image analysis software (InveonTM Acquisition Workplace). The principal compressive and tensile trabecular bones were segmented into five regions respectively. After selecting the volumes of interest for each region, morphometric analyses were subsequently performed on bone volume fraction, bone surface area fraction, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, trabecular spacing, trabecular pattern factor, and grayscale value.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Among the principal compressive trabeculae, Region 5 exhibited the highest bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness, and grayscale value, followed by Region 4 and 1, with statistically significant differences between Region 5 and 1 (all P < 0.05). Moving from Region 3 to Region 2, 1, and Regions 4, 5, there was a decreasing trend in bone surface area fraction and trabecular number, accompanied by an increasing trend in trabecular thickness. (2) Among the principal tensile trabeculae, Region 3 displayed the highest values for bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, and grayscale value, while Region 2 showed opposite trends, with statistically significant differences between the two regions, (excluding grayscale value; all
P < 0.001). (3) This study proposes a reliable method for extracting the volume of interest of principal stress trabeculae and introduces the novel concept that principal compressive trabeculae represent a functionally graded porous structure. These findings contribute new insights into the anatomical microstructure of principal compressive trabeculae and are expected to guide the future design of bionic hip prostheses.

Key words: principal pressure trabeculae, principal tension trabeculae, hip joint, morphometry, femoral head, functionally graded material

CLC Number:

Cao Meng, Li Lun, Tian Simiao, Cao Fang, Song Liqun, Zhao Dewei. Morphometric analysis of principal stress trabeculae in the proximal femur[J]. Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research, 2026, 30(21): 5477-5484.

Figures/Tables 3

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