Osteoporosis has been described as the commonest disease in the old age group. In this condition, bone mineral density decreases and the skeleton becomes more prone to fracture. these disease are associated with pain, disability and even lead to
death
from the fractures of the vertebrae, proximal femur, distal radius and ankle.
Several types of bone densitometric instrument are currently utilized as non-invasive methods for determining the status and change of bone mineral density according to progression of disease or successful treatment. Among the several types of
bone
densitometry, DEXA is one of the most accurate established method for the noninvasive assessment of bone mineral density. Its major advantages are low radiation dose, short scanning time, clinically sufficient accuracy, and a large number of
accessible
measurement sites.
We measured and evaluated bone mineral density of hip, femoral neck and trochanteric region by DEXA in 196 normal volunteers (78 men and 118 women), in 60 patients with femoral neck fractures (20 men and 40 women) and in 60 patients with
intertrochanteric fracture (21 men and 39 women) above 50 years-old and assessed the che changes of the trabeculae in definite areas of the proximal end of the femur in 120 patients above 50 years-old with hip fracture according to the criteria
of
Singh
et al.
The BMD of hip in controld and fracture groups decrease with age progressively.
The fair correlation was found between Singh's index and BMD of hip in fracture patients.
An "at risk" value which might be useful in screening procedure was determined as that hip density value more than 95% of all value from fracture patients (0.826g/cm2 in femoral neck and 0.753g/cm2 in trochanteric region.
This report observed bone mass in the hips of patients with hip fractures was less than that of the hips of control subjects and the differences were significant.
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