Week 6 - Alessandra

Alessandra Coogan | Clinical Mentor: Dr. Scott Rodeo


    This week was devoted almost entirely to my research project, and it feels like I reached an important milestone. After several weeks of trial and error, I successfully developed a workflow in Dragonfly for segmenting the trabecular and cortical regions of the proximal tibia and distal femur (Figure 1). My standard operating procedure has now been shared with members of the lab for feedback, and I was happy to hear that they have been very pleased with the workflow and documentation so far.

Figure 1. Segmentation of trabecular and cortical regions of the medial compartment. Segmented control knee, with the cortical regions highlighted in light blue (femur) and pink (tibia), and the trabecular regions highlighted in dark blue (femur) and purple (tibia).
    
    The next step is to evaluate how reproducible the workflow is. Three different users will independently segment the same three datasets, allowing us to assess inter-user consistency. Their results will also be compared against the manual ScanCo segmentations that were previously completed in the lab to determine the accuracy of the Dragonfly workflow. If successful, this pipeline could substantially reduce the time required for future μCT analyses while maintaining reliable results.

    The datasets being analyzed come from Dr. Yuki Suzuki's study investigating delayed ACL reconstruction following ACL injury. They include three treatment groups:

  • Immediate ACL reconstruction following injury
  • ACL reconstruction performed 7 days after injury
  • ACL reconstruction performed 14 days after injury

    Previous analyses performed using ScanCo showed that delaying reconstruction had a marked effect on osteoarthritis progression. At 8 weeks post-injury, the knees that underwent reconstruction after a 14-day delay exhibited the greatest osteophyte formation and joint degeneration, while immediate reconstruction provided the greatest protection against OA development (Figure 2). Interestingly, the most pronounced changes occurred in the posterior medial compartment of the knee, a region that is also commonly affected in human post-traumatic osteoarthritis.


Figure 2. Representative μCT models of a control knee and a 14-day ACLR. Delayed reconstruction resulted in increased osteophyte formation and degeneration, particularly within the posterior medial compartment.

    Although I spent most of the week behind a computer rather than in the OR, it was rewarding to see the project begin transitioning from method development to data analysis. Developing a standardized workflow now will make future analyses more efficient and reproducible. I have been told that everyone in the lab will be transitioning to Dragonfly once I wrap up my work, which is awesome to hear.

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