Feasibility of Applying MR Elastography to Measure Bone Stiffness in an ex vivo Model of Osteoporosis

Jun Chen¹, Hugh McGregor², Ephraim I. Ben-Abraham¹, Kevin J. Glaser¹, Qingshan Chen¹, Richard L. Ehman¹

Fragility fractures are the hallmark of osteoporosis, which affects 1 in 2 women and 1 in 6 men older than 50 in North America. Decreased bone mineral density (BMD), measured by DEXA and other methods, is an important risk factor for patients with osteoporosis. However, bone strength depends on the combination of BMD and bone microstructure/architecture. Therefore, assessing overall bone biomechanical properties could be more valuable than determining BMD alone. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using MRE to measure and detect the stiffness change in bone in an ex vivo model of osteoporosis.