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CORTICAL BONE MINERAL DENSITY VERSUS CORTICAL THICKNESS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF OSTEOPOROSIS: A ROENTGENOLOGIC‐DENSITOMETRIC STUDY *
Author(s) -
MEEMA H. E.,
MEEMA SYLVIA
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1969.tb03167.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cortical bone , osteoporosis , bone mineral , densitometry , osteomalacia , quantitative computed tomography , bone density , dentistry , anatomy
A bstract : Cortical bone mineral density (porosity) values were compared to minimum combined cortical thickness values (for the radius) in normal and in osteoporotic men and women. The normal group consisted of 211 men and 301 women whose ages ranged from 21 to 91 years. The abnormal groups included: (a) 27 men and 35 women with osteoporosis (vertebral compression) whose ages ranged from 31 to 85 years, and (b) 10 women with hyperparathyroidism or osteomalacia whose average age was 53 years. Both cortical bone mineral density and cortical thickness decreased significantly with aging, but there were many individual variations. The type of cortical bone loss differed somewhat between the sexes, especially in the early stages of its development when porosity was relatively more marked in men whereas thinning prevailed in women. Thus early bone loss in most men and in some women cannot be diagnosed by the simple measurement of cortical thickness; more elaborate methods of bone mineral analysis are required. However, in the oldest age groups the degree of cortical thinning frequently paralleled that of porosity, and in women cortical thinning tended to be predominant. Therefore, cortical thickness measurements usually are adequate for the diagnosis of pronounced osteoporosis. The average values for mineral density of cortical bone in normal young adults were similar to the values for ash weight per volume of cortical bone reported by other investigators. Since this ash content appears to be relatively constant in different mammals and in different bones of the same individual, the in vivo roentgenologic‐densitometric method of determining bone mineral density can be used to show deviations from normal such as occur in a significant proportion of cases of metabolic bone disease.