Abstract
For the diagnosis of primary osteoporosis, various semiquantitative radiologic methods were compared in 149 unselected patients, aged over 50 years. Crush fracture syndrome (CFS), lumbar spine index (LSI), and Singh Index (SI) were assessed by three radiologists and after reevaluation, the intra-and interobserver errors were calculated. The reliability of the subjective grading was improved by joint and repeated reading of the radiographs. Additionally, the peripheral trabecular bone content was measured by photonabsorptiondensitometry (PAD). To test the value of the various semiquantitative methods, LSI, SI, and PAD have been compared with sex-matching before and after separation into age in decades in CFS-positive and CFS-negative patients. In an attempt to differentiate osteoporotics nonosteoporotics by CFS, our results indicate that CFS-positive and CFS-negative males cannot be separated by LSI, SI, and PAD, whereas in females these methods can discriminate irrespective of the age in decades. However, in age related groups, only SI can discriminate significantly between CFS-positive and CFS-negative females. Correlation of the semiquantitative methods, regardless of the diagnosis of a CFS, revealed a significant correlation-between SI and PAD, but no correlation between LSI and SI, and LSI and PAD, respectively.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barnett E Nordin BEC (1960) The radiological diagnosis of osteoporosis: A new approach. Clin Radiol 11:166
Bone mineral determinations. (1974) Proceedings of the symposium on bone mineral determinations. Aktiebolaget Atomenergi Studsvik, Nyköping
Boukhris R, Becker KL (1973) The interrelationship between vertebral fractures and osteoporosis. Clin Orthop 90:209
Cameron JR, Sorensen J (1963) Measurement of bone mineral in vivo: an improved method. Science 142:230
DeQueker J, Gautama K, Roh YS (1974) Femoral trabecular patterns in asymptomatic osteoporosis and femoral neck fracture. Clin Radiol 25:243
Galen PS, Gambino SR (1975) Beyond normality: The predictive value and efficiency of medical diagnosis. Wiley, New York, pp 30–35
Gershon-Cohny J, Rechman AM, Schraer H, Blumberg N (1953) Asymptomatic fractures in osteoporotic spines of the aged. JAMA. 153:625
Lachmann E (1955) Osteoporosis: Potentialities and limitations of its roentgenologic diagnosis. AJR 74:712
Mazza J, Barr RM, McDonald JWD, Valberg LS (1978) Usefulness of the serum ferritin concentration in the detection of iron deficiency in a general hospital. Can Med Assoc J 119:884
Nordin BEC (1976) Bone mass. In: Nordin BEC (ed) Calcium, phosphate and magnesium metabolism. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh London New York, pp 357 (1972)
Plaue R (1972) Experimentelle Untersuchungen über die Grenzen der röntgenologischen Darstellung von Wirbelbrüchen. Arch Orthop Unfallchir 72:343
Reschef A, Schwartz A, Ben-Menachem Y, Menczel J, Guggenheim K (1971) Radiological osteoporosis: Correlation with dietary and biochemical findings. J Am Geriat Soc 19:361
Singh M, Nagrath AR, Maini PS (1970) Changes in trabecular pattern of the upper end of the femur as an index of osteoporosis. J Bone Joint Surg [Am] 52:457
Singh M, Riggs BL, Beabout JW, Jowsey J (1972) Femoral trabecular pattern index for evaluation of spinal osteoporosis. Ann Intern Med 77:63
Smith RW, Eyler WR, Mellinger RC (1960) On the incidence of senile osteoporosis. Ann Intern Med 52:773
Targovnik J (1977) Senile osteoporosis. Radiol Clin North Am 15:289
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kovarik, J., Küster, W., Seidl, G. et al. Clinical relevance of radiologic examination of the skeleton and bone density measurements in osteoporosis of old age. Skeletal Radiol 7, 37–41 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347170
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347170