Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Today, clinical indicators of a possible bone fracture risk are vague - the current diagnostic criteria ofx000D
osteoporosis leave the autonomy and life quality of millions of people to chance. This proposal aims to resolvex000D
the problem of characterization of spongy bone (most commonly affected by osteoporosis) based on clinicalx000D
tomographic imaging. This will be the first time that a new set of architectural parameters of spongyx000D
(trabecular) bone derived from a 3D image are used to provide a reliable prognosis to osteoporosis patients, asx000D
opposed to the traditionally-used bone mineral density or bone volume parameters. The proposal is based onx000D
the recent discovery that healthy trabecular bone conforms to the topological principle of spanning maximal 3Dx000D
volume with the minimal number of interconnected elements, akin to securing a sail mast to a boat deck with ax000D
few evenly spread ropes, rather than with the ropes pulling in one direction, or with a redundantly high numberx000D
of ropes. This topological principle reflects the adaptation of bone for effective re-distribution of diverse loadsx000D
and avoiding stress concentrations, both at the lowest metabolic cost. The topological descriptors of trabecularx000D
bone can be accessed via the novel inter-trabecular angle (ITA) analysis. This project will focus on detectionx000D
and analysis of variation of the topological parameters in healthy and osteoporotic trabecular bone. We havex000D
preliminary evidence that such variation does exist and can be quantified. Following the definition of the rangex000D
between topologically stable and unstable configurations of trabecular bone, simulation of clinical imaging willx000D
be carried out and an automated clinical application for medical tomography will be designed. The envisionedx000D
end result of this project will be an intuitive application ready for clinical validation and a supporting databasex000D
of normal and pathological bone 3D images. This is especially relevant for developed countries where thex000D
high-longevity population succumbs to sedentary life style and metabolic diseases.