title: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry body composition in patients with secondary osteoporosis.
abstract: Due to the tight relationship between bone and soft tissues, there has been an increased interest in body composition assessment in patients with secondary osteoporosis as well as other pathological conditions. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is primarily devoted to the evaluation of bone mineral status, but continuous scientific advances of body composition software made DXA a rapid and easily available technique to assess body composition in terms of fat mass and lean mass. As a result, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) recently developed Official Positions regarding the use of this technique for body composition analysis. According to ISCD paper, indications are mainly limited to three conditions: HIV patients treated with antiretroviral agents associated with a risk of lipoatrophy; obese patients undergoing treatment for high weight loss; patients with sarcopenia or muscle weakness. Nevertheless, there are several other interesting clinical applications that were not included in the ISCD position paper, such as body composition assessment in patients undergoing organ transplantation, pulmonary disease as well as all those chronic condition that may lead to malnutrition. In conclusion, DXA body composition offers new diagnostic and research possibilities for a variety of diseases; due to its high reproducibility, DXA has also the potential to monitor body composition changes with pharmacological, nutritional or physic therapeutic interventions. ISCD addressed and recommended a list of clinical condition, but the crescent availability of DXA scans and software improvements may open the use of DXA to other indication in the next future. This article provides an overview of DXA body composition indications in the management of secondary osteoporosis and other clinical indications in adults.
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: carmelomessina.md@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: cristianmonaco87@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cristian Giuseppe
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.affiliation: Mineralometria Ossea Computerizzata e Ambulatorio Malattie Metabolismo Minerale e Osseo, Servizio di Medicina Nucleare, IRCCS Fondazione Ca'Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, via Francesco Sforza 9, 20122 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: ulivieri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Fabio Massimo
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ulivieri
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, via Morandi 30, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 31, 20100 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.sardanelli@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sardanelli
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, via Morandi 30, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 31, 20100 Milano, Italy. Electronic address: io@lucasconfienza.it.
authors.forename: Luca Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sconfienza
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D015519:Bone Density; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000150:complications*
keywords: Adults; Body composition; Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; Secondary osteoporosis