title: Osteoporosis In Turkish HIV/AIDS patients: comparative analysis by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and digital X-ray radiogrammetry.
abstract: Recently, osteoporosis has attracted concern among physicians treating patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Many confounding factors are assumed to play a role in its pathogenesis. The discussion has increased dramatically since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and, in fact, the pertinent data have become much more contradictory. In this study, we have evaluated the BMD of our HIV/AIDS patients, comparatively by two methodologies: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and digital X-ray radiogrammetry (DXR). The study comprised 27 HIV/AIDS patients (15 males, 12 females). Bone mineral density measurements using DXA (Hologic QDR-4500) were performed at the lumbar spine (L1-L4), femur and distal radius. DXR evaluations were done by Pronosco X-posure system (Sectra Pronosco, Denmark) using the X-ray graphs of the patients' non-dominant hands. Nine patients (33.33%) were found to have osteoporosis. Fourteen (51.85%) had osteopenia and four (14.81%) were normal. Estimated BMD and cortical thickness measurements obtained from DXR significantly correlated with lumbar, femoral and radial DXA measurements. Whether disease-related or drug-related, the tendency to a decline in the bone mass of these patients exists, and future studies are awaited to unravel the clinical significance of osteopenia, risk of fracture and the individual differences between HAART regimens in HIV/AIDS. We also believe that launching screening and treatment guidelines for osteoporosis in these patients will then become reasonable. Last but not least, DXR appears to be a promising tool in this regard.
authors.affiliation: Hacettepe University Medical School, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara, Turkey. lozcakar@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ozçakar
authors.forename: Gulay Sain
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Guven
authors.forename: Serhat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.forename: Ayşen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akinci
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011884:Radius / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014421:Turkey