Thematic Excellence Program (Semmelweis University)(2020-4.1.1.-TKP2020) Támogató:
Innovációs és Technológiai Minisztérium
(Digital Biomarker thematic programme of the Semmelweis University)
Egészségbiztonság Nemzeti Laboratórium(RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00006) Támogató: NKFIH
(K128780) Támogató: Nemzeti Kutatás, Fejlesztés és Innovációs Iroda
This study aimed to create a three-dimensional histological reconstruction through
the AI-assisted classification of tissues and the alignment of serial sections. The
secondary aim was to evaluate if the novel technique for histological reconstruction
accurately replicated the trabecular microarchitecture of bone. This was performed
by conducting micromorphometric measurements on the reconstruction and comparing the
results obtained with those of microCT reconstructions. A bone biopsy sample was harvested
upon re-entry following sinus floor augmentation. Following microCT scanning and histological
processing, a modified version of the U-Net architecture was trained to categorize
tissues on the sections. Detector-free local feature matching with transformers was
used to create the histological reconstruction. The micromorphometric parameters were
calculated using Bruker’s CTAn software (version 1.18.8.0, Bruker, Kontich, Belgium)
for both histological and microCT datasets. Correlation coefficients calculated between
the micromorphometric parameters measured on the microCT and histological reconstruction
suggest a strong linear relationship between the two with ⍴-values of 0.777, 0.717,
0.705, 0.666, and 0.687 for BV/TV, BS/TV, Tb.Pf Tb.Th, and Tb.Sp, respectively. Bland–Altman
and mountain plots suggest good agreement between BV/TV measurements on the two reconstruction
methods. This novel method for three-dimensional histological reconstruction provides
researchers with a tool that enables the assessment of accurate trabecular microarchitecture
and histological information simultaneously.
