title: [Bone mineral content measurement: reflections on the equipment].
abstract: Metabolic bone disorders are extremely interesting from an epidemiological, clinical and social point of view. In particular, some of them are important for they are typical of elderly people--i.e., the portion of population which is on the increase due to the lengthening of the average life. On the other hand, thanks to the current intervention techniques, the number of chronic nephropathics (in whom metabolic bone conditions may develop) has markedly increased. Therefore, sufficiently reliable methods are needed to allow the thorough evaluation of bone mineral components. Unfortunately, these methods are only of quantitative value because they are unable to discriminate the statuses of the two essential bone components--i.e., cortex and spongiosa--; we all know that bone mineral loss can currently be quantified only when amounting to < 20% of the total value, due to the addition of the mineral contents of the two components. In this paper the authors briefly report on the noninvasive techniques currently in use for the measurement of bone mineral components, especially relative to their physical bases, the knowledge of which is essential for a correct evaluation. The authors accurately reviewed the literature data relative to the various techniques and compared the results obtained by the different authors. Thus, no personal experience is reported, since this paper is aimed at being considered as a reference mark for the reader to be helped in the choice of the equipment suiting him most. However, as to preventing metabolic osteopathies, quantitative methods cannot yield absolute data, which addresses the current research to densitometry by means of the Compton method. The latter may finally lead to the development of operative equipment allowing not only the separate measurement of cortical and spongiose values, but also the qualitative evaluation of bone status--i.e., not limited to mineral loss but including also the determination of the protein, fat and water components.
authors.affiliation: I Servizio di Radiodiagnostica, Ospedale Regionale di Treviso.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bacarini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giacomich
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saccavini
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods*; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D015519:Bone Density; D006801:Humans
vernacular_title: Misura della componente minerale dell'osso: riflessioni sulle apparecchiature.