Controversies in Diagnostic Classifications

摘要

Bone mass measurement would be simple if only one device could be used to measure one bone and one resutl was obtained. Many types of devices measuring many different bones resutl in many numbers which may be used for the interpretation of bone mass. As Segal's Law so aptly says: a man with one watch knows exactly what time it is, however, a man with two watches is never quite sure. New devices for measuring bone mineral density have evolved due to the need to screen large numbers of people, which is not feasible with central dual energy X-ray densitometers (DXA) or quantitative computerized tomography (QCT) devices. In the United States alone, there will be 80,000,000 postmenopausal women by the year 2040. All of these women will be at risk for osteoporotic-related fractures. Unless each of these women receive estrogen replacement therapy for the remainder of their lives, most will lose bone mass and be at increased fracture risk as their skeleton ages.