Abstract
Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (Hologic QDR-1000) was used to quantitatively analyze the diagnosis and prevention of osteoporosis. Results were as follows: The peak BMD of the spine appeared in the twenties in normal men and in the thirties in normal women. There was acceleration of bone loss in the 50 to 60 year age bracket (premenopause and postmenopause) in normal women. On the contrary, the peak BMD of the femoral neck in normal men and women appeared in the twenties after which it decreased slightly with age. Comparison showed that the femoral neck BMD of normal women was lower than that of men throughout all ages. The fracture threshold, 0.756g/cm2 for the spine, was obtained by scanning 73 females with spinal fractures, the mean BMDs for L2-L4 at the 90th percentile level were used as the fracture threshold. The fracture threshold of femoral neck fracture was the femoral proximal BMD of the 9th decile. Classification by the Public Welfare Silver Science Group's method and by the Singh index, except Grades I, II, and III, revealed a difference; as the severity of bone atrophy advanced, BMD tended to decrease. The percent reduction of BMD ten years after premenopause was 21.0% in the spine and 13.2% in the femoral neck. Correlation between BMD and weight, weight/height ratio, BODY MASS INDEX was significant. No correlation between BMD and bone metabolism factors in the blood was found in 50 osteoporotic petients. The results of this study showed that dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (Hologic QDR-1000) can objectively diagnose and suggest measures for prevention of osteoporosis, and is clinically useful.
