Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment

The trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint, formed by the junction of the trapezium and first metacarpal (MC1) bones, is highly susceptible to the onset and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). Although various treatment options exist to ease symptoms and slow the progression of OA, the success of these trea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Farrell, Caitlin
Other Authors: Mutsvangwa, Tinashe
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Biomedical Engineering 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613239164010496
access_status_str Open Access
author Farrell, Caitlin
author2 Mutsvangwa, Tinashe
author_browse Farrell, Caitlin
Mutsvangwa, Tinashe
author_facet Mutsvangwa, Tinashe
Farrell, Caitlin
author_sort Farrell, Caitlin
collection Thesis
description The trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint, formed by the junction of the trapezium and first metacarpal (MC1) bones, is highly susceptible to the onset and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). Although various treatment options exist to ease symptoms and slow the progression of OA, the success of these treatments is heavily reliant on the early diagnosis of the disorder. The primary aim of this research was to develop a methodology for the use of computed tomography (CT) imaging in the characterisation of biomechanical risk factors of OA in the TMC joint using data from OA-affected and control subjects. Features related to shape, pose, and intensity in the CT images of the TMC joints from the subjects were correlated to a range of biomechanical risk factors. Multi-object and multi feature-class statistical models of control and OA-affected datasets were created through the development of 3 pipelines – a registration pipeline, a correspondence pipeline, and a model building pipeline. These models were used to compare the ranges of 5 morphological anatomical measures, namely: the distances between the articular surfaces of the bones; the angle of volar beak protrusion; the angle of trapezial inclination; the surface areas of the articular facets; and the radii of curvature. In line with the respective hypotheses, the distance between the articular surfaces and the angle of volar beak protrusion were seen to decrease in OA-affected data whilst the surface areas of the articular facets were seen to increase. Contrary to their respective hypotheses, the angle of trapezial inclination was seen to decrease in OA-affected data and the radii of curvature of the articular facets showed no significant changes in morphology. This suggests certain anatomical measures may be indicative of the onset and progression of TMC OA and provides a range of values typical of both control subjects and OA-affected subjects. A third model representative of the combined OA-affected and control data was developed and used to determine the correlations between the shape and pose, and the shape and intensity feature classes. This indicated a high correlation between both the shape and intensity and the shape and pose feature classes, thus suggesting a correlation between the respective biomechanical risk factors. In summary, the results of this research suggest that a decreased distance between the articular surfaces, an increased articular surface area, and a decrease in the angle of volar beak protrusion may be indicative of the onset and progression of TMC OA. This research is limited by the relatively small size of the datasets used and thus further research is necessary to determine the variation in the trapezial angle of inclination and the change in concavity of the articular surface of the MC1. Moreover, this research serves as an explanation and demonstration of the developed pipelines in the creation of a DMFC-GPM of the TMC joint which can be applied to larger and more diverse datasets in future research to determine the correlations between the respective feature classes.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40878
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:58.612Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Division of Biomedical Engineering
publisherStr Division of Biomedical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40878 Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment Farrell, Caitlin Mutsvangwa, Tinashe Vereecke, Evie Borotikar, Bhushan biomedical engineering The trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint, formed by the junction of the trapezium and first metacarpal (MC1) bones, is highly susceptible to the onset and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). Although various treatment options exist to ease symptoms and slow the progression of OA, the success of these treatments is heavily reliant on the early diagnosis of the disorder. The primary aim of this research was to develop a methodology for the use of computed tomography (CT) imaging in the characterisation of biomechanical risk factors of OA in the TMC joint using data from OA-affected and control subjects. Features related to shape, pose, and intensity in the CT images of the TMC joints from the subjects were correlated to a range of biomechanical risk factors. Multi-object and multi feature-class statistical models of control and OA-affected datasets were created through the development of 3 pipelines – a registration pipeline, a correspondence pipeline, and a model building pipeline. These models were used to compare the ranges of 5 morphological anatomical measures, namely: the distances between the articular surfaces of the bones; the angle of volar beak protrusion; the angle of trapezial inclination; the surface areas of the articular facets; and the radii of curvature. In line with the respective hypotheses, the distance between the articular surfaces and the angle of volar beak protrusion were seen to decrease in OA-affected data whilst the surface areas of the articular facets were seen to increase. Contrary to their respective hypotheses, the angle of trapezial inclination was seen to decrease in OA-affected data and the radii of curvature of the articular facets showed no significant changes in morphology. This suggests certain anatomical measures may be indicative of the onset and progression of TMC OA and provides a range of values typical of both control subjects and OA-affected subjects. A third model representative of the combined OA-affected and control data was developed and used to determine the correlations between the shape and pose, and the shape and intensity feature classes. This indicated a high correlation between both the shape and intensity and the shape and pose feature classes, thus suggesting a correlation between the respective biomechanical risk factors. In summary, the results of this research suggest that a decreased distance between the articular surfaces, an increased articular surface area, and a decrease in the angle of volar beak protrusion may be indicative of the onset and progression of TMC OA. This research is limited by the relatively small size of the datasets used and thus further research is necessary to determine the variation in the trapezial angle of inclination and the change in concavity of the articular surface of the MC1. Moreover, this research serves as an explanation and demonstration of the developed pipelines in the creation of a DMFC-GPM of the TMC joint which can be applied to larger and more diverse datasets in future research to determine the correlations between the respective feature classes. 2025-02-04T07:31:02Z 2025-02-04T07:31:02Z 2024 2025-02-04T07:25:54Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40878 eng Division of Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle biomedical engineering
Farrell, Caitlin
Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
title_full Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
title_fullStr Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
title_full_unstemmed Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
title_short Multi-object and multi-feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
title_sort multi object and multi feature models of thumb anatomy for population based morphological assessment
topic biomedical engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40878
work_keys_str_mv AT farrellcaitlin multiobjectandmultifeaturemodelsofthumbanatomyforpopulationbasedmorphologicalassessment