Screening CT Colonography for Osteoporosis

Analysis of CT colonography for colorectal cancer can provide information regarding patient bone health and osteoporosis, according to a study published in Radiology.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, NY, and the University of California–Berkeley, in California, evaluated the utility of retrospective analysis of CT colonography in a comprehensive osteoporosis assessment.

The study involved 136 women, aged from 43 to 92, who had undergone CT colonography and DXA within a six-month period between January 2008 and April 2010. The diagnosis of osteoporosis and assessment of fracture risk were compared between biomechanical CT analysis and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

“For bone mineral density T scores at the femoral neck, biomechanical CT analysis was highly correlated (R2 = 0.84) with DXA, did not differ from DXA (P = .15, paired t test), and was able to identify osteoporosis (as defined by DXA), with 100 percent sensitivity in eight of eight patients and 98.4 percent specificity in 126 of 128 patients,” the authors wrote.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"41062","attributes":{"alt":"musculoskeletal imaging","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_2405273398736","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"4279","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"height: 200px; width: 200px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin: 1px; float: right;","title":"©decade3d - anatomy online/Shutterstock.com","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

When the researchers looked at both the hip and spine, the classification of patients at high risk for fracture by biomechanical CT analysis corresponded with classifications for clinical osteoporosis by DXA with 82.8% sensitivity in 24 of 29 patients and 85.7% specificity in 66 of 77 patients.

The researchers concluded that without changing imaging protocols, use of CT colonography performed for colorectal cancer screening also provides a comprehensive osteoporosis assessment.