Health Technology Assessment Reports, 1987. Number 2. Radiographic Absorptiometry for Measuring Bone Mineral Density

摘要

Radiographic absorptiometry (RA) is a noninvasive radiologic technique involving a computer-assisted densitometric measurement of the x-ray image of bone. Mineral density analysis are based on phalangeal scans of pairs of exposed radiographs with an aluminum alloy reference wedge included in the image field. The technique can achieve a precision of 2-4 percent with a radiation dose of 10-100 mrad. While RA is capable of measuring bone mineral density and has advanced the knowledge of bone disease in general, its impact on the management of the individual patient is equivocal. Studies with RA that attempted to find a specific level of BMD that distinguished patients with osteoporosis have been largely unsuccessful. Also, the ability to predict who is at risk for subsequently developing fractures of the spine and hip has not yet been shown.