Table 1.
Investigated parameters (columns) and their behaviour (lines) are presented as results at a glance. The investigated parameters were: porosity (Po), pore space (Po.Sp), bone volume fraction (BV/TV), structural model index (SMI), trabecular pattern factor (Tb.Pf), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp), bone surface to bone volume (BS/BV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular number (Tb.N), and degree of anisotropy (DA). The expressions in brackets specify exceptions in the conclusions, where present. For example, >(L4) in the case of inf–sup means that it is significantly higher differences in the inferior joint part of L4. The following encoding was used.
| = | No statistically significant difference between groups | P≤0.05 |
| > | Statistically significant higher | P≤0.05 |
| < | Statistically significant lower | P≤0.05 |
| + | Statistically significantly increasing | P≤0.05 |
| − | Statistically significantly decreasing | P≤0.05 |
| C, L | Cervical, lumbar | |
| in f, sup | Inferior, superior | |
| le, ri | Left or right | |
| T, M, B | Top, middle, bottom of the facet surface |
| ♂–♀ | Age | Vertebra | C–L | inf–sup | ri–le | T–B–M | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortex | |||||||
| Po | < | = | = | = | =(L4) | = | = |
| Po.Sp | = | = | = | = | =(L4) | = | = |
| Trabeculae | |||||||
| BV/TV | > | =(♂)−(♀) | = | = | =(C)>(L) | = | −(T to M)+(M to B) |
| BS/BV | < | − | = | > | = | = | = |
| Tb.Th | > | =(♂)−(♀) | = | = | = | = | = |
| Tb.Sp | = | + | >(C7) | = | < | = | −(T to M)+(M to B) |
| Tb.N | = | =(♂)−(♀) | = | > | >(L4) | = | −(T to M)+(M to B) |
| DA | = | − | = | > | >(not L5) | = | −(T to M)+(M to B) |
| SMI | = | = | = | = | =(C)<(L) | = | = |
| Tb.Pf | = | =(♂)+(♀) | = | = | =(C)<(L) | = | = |