title: Enhanced trabecular micro-architecture of the femoral neck in hip osteoarthritis vs. healthy controls: a micro-computer tomography study in postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A controversial relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and bone fragility has been attracting considerable attention. However, despite interest in the effects of OA on femoral neck fracture risk and numerous studies analysing the changes in the arthritic femoral head, there is insufficient data about femoral neck 3D bone micro-architecture in individuals with hip osteoarthritis. We compared trabecular micro-architecture of the femoral neck between postmenopausal women with coxarthrosis and controls to explore whether coxarthrosis may indicate reduced bone fragility from the trabecular micro-architectural perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample included nine women with hip osteoarthritis and 13 age-matched controls. The femoral neck sections were scanned using micro-computed tomography, evaluating the cancellous bone from the superolateral and inferomedial neck subregions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Osteoarthritic subjects demonstrated a general trend of improved trabecular micro-architecture in both analysed subregions when compared with age-matched controls. In particular, several architectural properties that are important predictors of cancellous bone strength showed significantly better values in the OA group, even after adjusting for bone volume fraction. Namely, the OA group expressed higher trabecular connectivity (p = 0.008), lower SMI indicating more plate-like structure (p = 0.005), and reduced anisotropy (p = 0.006) particularly in the inferomedial neck. Osteoarthritic cases also trended towards higher BV/TV, particularly in the superolateral neck. All micro-architectural parameters displayed significant regional heterogeneity (p ≤ 0.01), with the inferomedial neck region showing more favourable values than the superolateral region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Enhanced trabecular micro-architecture of the femoral neck in postmenopausal osteoarthritic subjects suggests reduced cancellous bone fragility in comparison with their age-matched healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. marijadjuric5@gmail.com
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djuric
authors.forename: Slavisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zagorac
authors.forename: Petar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Milovanovic
authors.forename: Danijela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Djonic
authors.forename: Slobodan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nikolic
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zivkovic
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bumbasirevic
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amling
authors.forename: Robert Percy
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D015207:Osteoarthritis, Hip / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017698:Postmenopause; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography