Metacarpal thickness, width, length and medullary diameter in children—reference curves from the First Zürich Longitudinal Study

• Published in: Osteoporosis international Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 1525 - 1536
• Main Authors: Martin, D. D., Heckmann, C., Jenni, O. G., Ranke, M. B., Binder, G., Thodberg, H. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer-Verlag 01-05-2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age Determination by Skeleton - methods; Aging - pathology; Aging - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Height - physiology; Body Weight - physiology; Child; Child development; Child, Preschool; Databases, Factual; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Endocrinology; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metacarpal Bones - anatomy & histology; Metacarpal Bones - diagnostic imaging; Metacarpal Bones - growth & development; Norms; Original Article; Orthopedics; Osteoarticular system. Muscles; Osteoporosis. Osteomalacia. Paget disease; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Reference Values; Rheumatology; Sex Characteristics; Skeletal system; Young Adult; Skeletal growth; Metacarpal dimensions; Radiogrammetry; Child; Reference values; Human; Growth; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Dimension; Metacarpal bone; Osteoporosis; Skeleton; Bone; Width; Diameter
• ISSN: 0937-941X; 1433-2965
• DOI: 10.1007/s00198-010-1389-9

Summary
Metacarpal thickness (
T
), width (
W
), length (
L
) and medullary diameter (
M
) were measured in 3,121 X-rays from 231 healthy Caucasian children aged 3 to 19 years and analysed for bone age, age, height, weight and gender-related characteristics, showing highly differentiated growth patterns with prepubertal dips. Reference data for the four metacarpal measures are presented.
Introduction
The aim of the study was to create and explore a reference database for metacarpal
T
,
W
,
L
and
M
in children.
Methods
Three thousand one hundred twenty-one left-hand X-rays (1,661 from boys) from 231 healthy Caucasian subjects (119 boys) aged 3 to 19 years were analysed by BoneXpert, a programme for automatic analysis of hand X-rays and bone age (BA; in years).
Results
In boys, growth of
T
,
W
and
L
shows a prepubertal decrease from BA 7 to 13 and then accelerates again. In girls, the same is seen only for
T
starting from BA 8 to 11, whereas
W
and
L
grow at a declining rate.
M
shows steady growth until BA 10.5 in girls and BA 13.5 in boys and then grows smaller in both.
W
is greater in boys from BA 6 onwards, while
L
is greater in girls from BA 9 to 13 and
T
from BA 11 to 14. BA is reflected best by
L
until start of puberty and by
T
and
L
thereafter.
Conclusion
T
,
W
,
L
and
M
show highly differentiated growth patterns. These reference data provide a basis for further research into skeletal development and the management of hormone therapies in children.