Healthcare burden of osteoporosis

A Radiological Assessment of the Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Male Patients Seen in a South African Hospital: A Retrospective Analysis

Developing countries are predicted to bear the burden of osteoporosis in the coming decades. The prevalence of osteoporosis in South African men is unknown, but is thought to be rare. Opportunistic screening for osteoporosis can be performed using quantitative computed tomography (CT) obtained for various clinical indications. We assessed the frequency of osteoporosis in male patients using quantitative computed tomography (CT) obtained for various clinical indications. Data were collected from abdominal and spinal CT scans performed at the radiology department of a provincial tertiary hospital between January 2019 and January 2021. The CT examinations were derived from 507 male patients (mean age, 45±15 years; 83% Black, 0.8% Coloured, 4.1% Indian and 11.2% White). In the CT scans, the region of interest was placed manually at the axial cross-sections of L1 and L3 vertebrae. Using densitometry, we calculated average bone mass density and T and Z scores. We diagnosed osteoporosis in 18.5% (n = 94) of our patients. Only 7.9% of patients younger than 50 had osteoporosis, while 35.9% of patients older than 50 years showed signs of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis was more common amongst White male patients (45.6%) and least common in Black male patients (14.4%). Indian patients had the highest prevalence of osteopenia (42.9%). We successfully used CT scans, obtained for various conditions, to identify large numbers of patients with low bone mineral density (BMD). The prevalence of osteoporosis in this sample is similar to rates reported elsewhere in Africa. Asymptomatic patients at risk of developing insufficiency fractures can be diagnosed and managed early using CT scans, thus preventing unnecessary admissions and reducing osteoporosis-related morbidity and mortality.

Application of Medical Imaging Based on Deep Learning in the Treatment of Lumbar Degenerative Diseases and Osteoporosis with Bone Cement Screws

Objective

To explore the application value of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and GSI-energy spectrum electronic computed tomography (CT) medical imaging based on the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) in the treatment of lumbar degenerative disease and osteoporosis.

Methods

There were 56 cases of suspected lumbar degenerative disease and osteoporosis. A group of 56 subjects were examined using 1.5 TMR spectrum (MRS) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to collect the lumbar L3 vertebral body fat ratio (FF) and L1~4 vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) value. We divided the subjects into 2 groups with T value -2.5 as the critical point. Set T value > -2.5 as the negative group and T value ≤ -2.5 as the positive group. Pearson's method is used for FF-MRS and BMD correlation analyses. A group of all patients underwent GSI-energy spectrum CT scan, and X-ray bone mineral density (DXA) test results (bone density per unit area) were used as the gold standard to analyze the diagnosis of osteoporosis by the GSI-energy spectrum CT scan method value.

Results

The differences in FF and BMD between the negative group and the positive group were statistically significant (P < 0.01), and there was a highly negative correlation between the average value of FF and BMD. 30 cases were diagnosed as osteoporosis by DXA. The accuracy of GSI-energy spectrum CT medical imaging in diagnosing osteoporosis is 89.30%. The GSI-energy spectrum CT diagnosis of osteoporosis and DXA examination results have good consistency.

Conclusion

Based on the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) MRS technology, GSI-energy spectrum CT medical imaging is used in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of lumbar degenerative lesions and osteoporosis. It has a good advantage in assessing bone quality and has good consistency with DXA examination and has better application value high.

The plate-to-rod transition in trabecular bone loss is elusive

Changes in trabecular micro-architecture are key to our understanding of osteoporosis. Previous work focusing on structure model index (SMI) measurements have concluded that disease progression entails a shift from plates to rods in trabecular bone, but SMI is heavily biased by bone volume fraction. As an alternative to SMI, we proposed the ellipsoid factor (EF) as a continuous measure of local trabecular shape between plate-like and rod-like extremes. We investigated the relationship between EF distributions, SMI and bone volume fraction of the trabecular geometry in a murine model of disuse osteoporosis as well as from human vertebrae of differing bone volume fraction. We observed a moderate shift in EF median (at later disease stages in mouse tibia) and EF mode (in the vertebral samples with low bone volume fraction) towards a more rod-like geometry, but not in EF maximum and minimum. These results support the notion that the plate to rod transition does not coincide with the onset of bone loss and is considerably more moderate, when it does occur, than SMI suggests. A variety of local shapes not straightforward to categorize as rod or plate exist in all our trabecular bone samples.