Materials:
We collected a sample of 200 Caucasian patients (100 males; 100 females) who were enrolled for CT evaluation for restaging of oncological diseases from March 2009 to July 2011.
Mean age was 64.5 years (SD +/- 12.7).
Our exclusion criteria were non Caucasian origins; skull,
vertebral,
pelvis or lower limb fractures; bone tumors; vitamin deficiencies; metabolic-endocrinological diseases; milk intolerance; growth disorders and severe osteoporosis (T-score <2.5).
Images were acquired using a 64-slice CT scanner.
A topogram of 1520 mm was carried out from clavicles to tibial condyles and then scans in spiral mode were executed.
So we carried out another topogram for the skull and a scan in sequential mode.
We measured the height and weight of each patient with an electronic scale using standard anthropometric instruments in millimeters; each patient stood barefoot with arms stretched out from the body,
keeping the head in theFrankfurt horizontal plane.
Each measurement was taken twice to reduce operator errors.
Methods:
Skeletal measurements
After completion of sampling,
we analyzed images of each patient to produce a multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) in sagittal and coronal planes with a thickness of 1mm.
We then measured the following parameters:
- length of the left and right femoral diaphyses: The distance between an imaginary line passing through the greater and lesser trochanters and a line passing through the femoral condyles,
parallel to the longer axis of the femur,
in the coronal plane (Fig.
1)
- width of the left and right femoral diaphyses: The maximum bone width at the mid-point of the dyaphyseal length,
in the coronal plane (Fig.
1)
- Bimastoidal diameter: The distance between the mastoidal processes,
in the coronal plane (Fig.
2.A)
- Biparietal diameter: The maximum cranial width,
in the coronal plane (Fig.
2.A)
- Distance from Ophistocranion to Glabella (G-Op): The maximum cranial length,
in the sagittal plane (Fig.
2.B)
- Distance from Basion to Nasion (Ba-N): The length of the cranial base,
in the sagittal plane (Fig.
2.B)
- Distance from Basion to Nasal Bone (Ba-NB); The distance from the posterior extremity of the cranial base to the inferior point of the nasal bone,
in the sagittal plane (Fig.
2.B)
- Maximum length of the frontal sinus (FsHt): The frontal sinus height,
in the sagittal plane (Fig.
2.B)
All measurements were taken by the first author (FG).
Statistical analysis
The concordance correlation coefficient (Lin,
1989) has been previously calculated to assess the reproducibility of the measurement technique.
Differences in bone lengths between the sexes were tested using Student’s t-test.
The correlation between height and each parameter measured was examined by simple regression analysis using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R).
Multiple linear regression was implemented to analyze the correlation among stature and the lengths of three bones,
those with the highest R-values.