Osteonal clustering and merging is increased in hip fracture cases, suggesting that the structural realignment of porosity may be a mechanism of fracture by means of altered local strain and stress fields within cortical tissue. We therefore believe the investigation of pore topology is important to estimating the effects of age, disease, and therapeutic interventions on fracture risk. This project develops a pore topology analysis technique which provides data pertinent to pore clustering, realignment, and interconnectedness. The technique utilizes a skeletonization routine to deconstruct the cortical pore network into individual elements, allowing for the classification of each element as either a plate or a rod. From the skeletonized image, parameters of pore structure and topology can be quantified.
