title: In vitro determination of bone mineral content of the femur neck. Use of computed tomography.
abstract: An accurate method for the in vitro measurement of mineral content of femoral bone by means of computed tomography (CT) is presented. The bone mineral content (BMC) of the femoral head in patients with a subcapital fracture was determined and compared with that in patients with osteo-arthritis. There was a satisfactory standard curve and a highly significant relationship between the CT number (Hounsfield number) and a standard bone equivalent reference (K2HPO4) was obtained at two different energies (96 and 125 kV). The calculated error in the calibration procedure was less than 1,5% and the overall error of the method was 8,8%. The femoral BMC of patients in the fracture group was found to be substantially lower (P less than 0.001) than that in osteoarthritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physiology, University of Pretoria.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: van Papendorp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pistorius
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Hough
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000378:metabolism; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008903:Minerals / Q000032:analysis*; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000378:metabolism; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals