THE DIAGNOSIS OF OSTEOPOROSIS BY MEASURING LUMBAR VERTEBRAE DENSITY WITH MDCT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH QUANTITATIVE COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY (QCT)

Objective: To compare the densities in Hounsfield Unit (HU) measured from corpus lumbar vertebrae using Multi-Detector Computerized Tomography (MDCT) with the T and Z scores measured using a bone densitometry software (Quantitative CT) from lumbar vertebrae; to evaluate the feasibility of diagnosing osteoporosis and osteopenia by only measuring the lumbar density and to determine the threshold values in density. Materials and methods: 208 subjects were included in the study (126 men, 82 women). Bone densitometry measurements from lumbar vertebrae were made using Philips BMD option software. The density values, which were taken from the vertebrae of the same level, were recorded. The T and Z scores taken from the corpus vertebrae and the density measurements taken from the same level were statistically compared. Results: A significant relationship was determined between the T score and the HU values measured from the L5 level of verte- brae (p=0.014) in the female. For the male patients, the density values were most statistically correlated with the T score at the L4 vertebral level compare with others (p=0.016). Conclusion: One hundred and thirty-five (135) HU at L4 vertebral level for males and 130 HU at L5 vertebral level for fema- les can be used as the threshold values to predict osteoporosis.