title: Quantitative bone assessments: applications and expectations.
abstract: Although, with the newer and more sophisticated radiologic methods the precision of bone mass measurement has been greatly improved, it is still impossible to predict the imminence of osteoporotic fractures, for two main reasons. First, current radiologic methods measure bone mass accurately only in appendiceal bone (largely cortical and regularly shaped) and not in axial bone (largely trabecular and irregularly shaped). However, most clinically significant fractures occur in the axial skeleton and involve trabecular bone, which is more prone than cortical bone to resorptive losses. Second, because of large differences in body habitus, the normal range of bone densities varies widely in any cohort of the same sex and race. Thus, although bone density measurements cannot be used to predict osteoporotic fractures, they have an important application in monitoring changes in skeletal mass for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed