Cross-sectional study of osteopenia by quantitative magnetic resonance and bone densitometry

Abstract

The most widely used criterion for osteoporotic fracture risk assessment and therapy follow-up is bone mineral density (BMD). However, BMD ignores other factors that contribute to the skeleton’s mechanical competence, notably architecture. Whereas direct visualization and analysis of cancellous bone structure is possible at peripheral skeletal locations, MR provides opportunities for indirect assessment of trabecular integrity at any anatomic site on the basis of a measurement of the rate constant for RF-reversible spin dephasing (R2’) of bone marrow protons, incurred by induced local field inhomogeneities (1, 2).