ABSTRACT
The geometric and spatial properties of trabeculae in cancellous bone are collectively known as the
cancellous bone architecture
. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of methods in current use for quantification of the architecture. Only methods applied to histological sections and threedimensional (3D) reconstructions will be discussed. Methods based on texture analysis of plain radiographs and low-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans and methods devised for studying dynamic properties of bone remodeling will not be discussed. Cancellous bone may be studied at different hierarchical levels from the ultrastructure of collagen and mineral to macroscopic density. Cancellous bone architecture is studied at the scale of individual trabeculae, i.e., at a resolution in the approximate range of 20 to 50
m. The trabecular arrangement in cancellous bone is obviously not random. Some regions are very dense,
whereas others have only sparse trabeculae. In some regions the trabeculae are consistently coarse, whereas other regions consist of finer trabeculae. The mean orientation and degree of anisotropy are also variables that obviously change between anatomical sites and between individuals.
