title: Advances in the noninvasive assessment of bone density, quality, and structure.
abstract: Recent advances in the development of methods to assess the skeleton noninvasively have contributed to screening for risk of osteoporosis, early detection of the disease, and effective monitoring of its progression and response to therapy. The capability now exists to evaluate the peripheral, central, or entire skeleton as well as the trabecular bone or cortical bone envelopes accurately and precisely, with the capacity to determine bone strength and predict fracture risk. In this article we examine the current and future capabilities of quantitative computed tomography (QCT), quantitative ultrasound (QUS), and magnetic resonance microscopy (muMR) to assess architectural and densitometric properties of the skeleton to enhance the prediction of fracture risk.
authors.affiliation: Skeletal Section, Radiology Department, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus, M392, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628, USA.
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Genant
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Engelke
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fuerst
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glüer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumdar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jergas
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy