MRI texture analysis of femoral neck: Detection of exercise load-associated differences in trabecular bone.

Purpose: To assess the ability of co-occurrence matrix-based texture parameters to detect exercise load-associated differences in MRI texture at the femoral neck cross-section.

Materials And Methods: A total of 91 top-level female athletes representing five differently loading sports and 20 referents participated in this cross-sectional study. Axial T1-weighted FLASH and T2*-weighted MEDIC sequence images of the proximal femur were obtained with a 1.5T MRI. The femoral neck trabecular bone at the level of the insertion of articular capsule was divided manually into regions of interest representing four anatomical sectors (anterior, posterior, superior, and inferior). Selected co-occurrence matrix-based texture parameters were used to evaluate differences in apparent trabecular structure between the exercise loading groups and anatomical sectors of the femoral neck.

Results: Significant differences in the trabecular bone texture, particularly at the superior femoral neck, were observed between athletes representing odd-impact (soccer and squash) and high-magnitude exercise loading (power-lifting) groups and the nonathletic reference group.

Conclusion: MRI texture analysis provides a quantitative method for detecting and classifying apparent structural differences in trabecular bone that are associated with specific exercise loading.