Abstract
Better understanding of the effects of growth on children’s bones and cartilage is necessary for clinical and biomechanical purposes. The aim of this study is to define the 3D geometry of children’s rib cages: including sternum, ribs and costal cartilage. Three-dimensional reconstructions of 960 ribs, 518 costal cartilages and 113 sternebrae were performed on thoracic CT scans of 48 children, aged 4 months to 15 years. The geometry of the sternum was detailed and nine parameters were used to describe the ribs and rib cages. A “costal index” was defined as the ratio between cartilage length and whole rib length to evaluate the cartilage ratio for each rib level. For all children, the costal index decreased from rib level 1 to 3 and increased from level 3 to 7. For all levels, the cartilage accounted for 45–60 % of the rib length, and was longer for the first years of life. The mean costal index decreased by 21 % for subjects over 3-year old compared to those under three (p < 10−4). The volume of the sternebrae was found to be highly age dependent. Such data could be useful to define the standard geometry of the pediatric thorax and help to detect clinical abnormalities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashley GT (1956) The relationship between the pattern of ossification and the definitive shape of the mesosternum in man. J Anat 90:87
Beillas P, Lafon Y, Smith FW (2009) The effects of posture and subject-to-subject variations on the position, shape and volume of abdominal and thoracic organs. Stapp Car Crash J 53:127–154
Bertrand S, Laporte S, Parent S et al (2008) Three-dimensional reconstruction of the rib cage from biplanar radiography. IRBM 29(4):278
Beusenberg MC, Happee R, Twisk D et al (1993) Status of injury biomechanics for the development of child dummies. In: Child Occupant Protection Symposium. San Antonio, Texas, USA
Brown JK, Jing Y, Wang S et al (2006) Patterns of severe injury in pediatric car crash victims: crash Injury Research Engineering Network database. J Pediatr Surg 41(2):362–367
Burdi AR, Huelke DF, Snyder RG et al (1969) Infants and children in the adult world of automobile safety design: pediatric and anatomical considerations for design of child restraints. J Biomech 2(3):267–280
Jean Dansereau, Stokes Ian AF (1988) Measurements of the three-dimensional shape of the rib cage. J Biomech 21(11):893
Daunt SW, Cohen JH, Miller SF (2004) Age-related normal ranges for the Haller index in children. Pediatr Radiol 34(4):326
de Jager K, van Ratingen M, Lesire P et al (2005) Assessing new child dummies and criteria for child occupant protection in frontal impact. In: 19th ESV conference. TNO–LAB–BASt–IDIADA–UTAC
Delorme S, Violas P, Dansereau J et al (2001) Preoperative and early postoperative three-dimensional changes of the rib cage after posterior instrumentation in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Eur Spine J: Official Publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society 10(2):101–107
Derveaux L, Clarysse I, Ivanoff I et al (1989) Preoperative and postoperative abnormalities in chest X-ray indices and in lung function in pectus deformities. Chest 95(4):850
Dworzak J, Lamecker H, von Berg J et al (2010) 3D reconstruction of the human rib cage from 2D projection images using a statistical shape model. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg 5(2):111–124
Forman JL, Kent RW (2011) Modeling costal cartilage using local material properties with consideration for gross heterogeneities. J Biomech 44(5):910–916
Haller JA, Kramer SS, Lietman SA (1987) Use of CT scans in selection of patients for pectus excavatum surgery: a preliminary report. J Pediatr Surg 22(0022-3468)
Irwin AL, Mertz HJ (1997) Biomechanical bases for the CRABI and Hybrid III child dummies. In: 41st Stapp car crash conference. Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
Jolivet E, Sandoz B, Laporte S et al (2010) Fast 3D reconstruction of the rib cage from biplanar radiographs. Med Biol Eng Comput 48(8):821–828
Lafon Y, Smith FW, Beillas P (2010) Combination of a model-deformation method and a positional MRI to quantify the effects of posture on the anatomical structures of the trunk. J Biomech 43(7):1269–1278
Mitton D, Zhao K, Bertrand S et al (2008) 3D reconstruction of the ribs from lateral and frontal X-rays in comparison to 3D CT-scan reconstruction. J Biomech 41(3):706–710
Mizuno K, Iwata K, Deguchi T et al (2005) Development of a three-year-old child FE model. Traffic Inj Prev 6(4):361–371
Nishisaki A, Nysaether J, Sutton R et al (2009) Effect of mattress deflection on CPR quality assessment for older children and adolescents. Resuscitation 80(5):540
O’Neal ML, Dwornik JJ, Ganey TM et al (1998) Postnatal development of the human sternum. J Pediatric Orthop 18(3):398
Ogden JA, Conlogue GJ, Bronson ML et al (1979) Radiology of postnatal skeletal development—II. The manubrium and sternum. Skeletal Radiol 4(4):189
Riach IC (1967) Ossification in the sternum as a means of assessing skeletal age. J Clin Pathol 20(4):589
Rush WJ, Donnelly LF, Brody AS et al (2002) “Missing” sternal ossification center: potential mimicker of disease in young children. Radiology 224(1):120
Sandoz B, Laporte S, Skalli W et al (2010) Subject-specific body segment parameters’ estimation using biplanar X-rays: a feasibility study. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Eng 13(6):649–654
Saul RA, Pritz HB, McFadden J et al (1998) Description and performance of the Hybrid III three-year-old, six-year-old and small female test dummies in restraint system and out-of-position air bag environments. In: 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Schneider K, Zernicke RF (1992) Mass, center of mass, and moment of inertia estimates for infant limb segments. J Biomech 25(2):145–148
Stokes IA, Dansereau J, Moreland MS (1989) Rib cage asymmetry in idiopathic scoliosis. J Orthop Res: official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 7(4):599–606
van Ratingen MR, Twisk D, Schrooten M et al (1997) Biomechanically based design and performance targets for a 3-year-old-child crash dummy for front and side impact. In: Second Child Occupant Protection Symposium. Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA
Wang Y, Rangarajan N, Shams T et al (2005) Design of a biofidelic instrumented 3.4 kg infant dummy. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the kind review of C. Adam. This research was partly funded by a grant from the ANR (SECUR_ENFANT 06_0385) and supported by the GDR 2610 “Biomécanique des chocs” (CNRS/INRETS/GIE PSA Renault).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sandoz, B., Badina, A., Laporte, S. et al. Quantitative geometric analysis of rib, costal cartilage and sternum from childhood to teenagehood. Med Biol Eng Comput 51, 971–979 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-013-1070-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-013-1070-5