The Roles of Dexa, Sonography, CT, and MRI in Imaging and Diagnosing Osteoporosis

The Roles of Dexa, Sonography, CT, and MRI in Imaging and Diagnosing Osteoporosis is organized by eRADIMAGING.

Release Date: 11/18/2022
Expiration Date: 12/01/2028

Course Description:
By 2040, it is predicted there will be 80 million adults over the age of 65 in the United States, and with advanced age comes the higher probability of being at risk for or being diagnosed with osteoporosis (OP). This statistic coupled with the underestimation of this disease process in men, as well as the effect of certain cancer drugs, likely lead to an exponential increase in the number of older patients developing OP or osteopenia. OP is becoming an increasingly concerning public health issue, but effective interventions and treatments for fragility fractures are now available. Digital radiographic techniques allow clinicians to visualize bone structure. Unfortunately, they do not offer information about bone mineral density (BMD), which can facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of patients with OP. In contrast, bone densitometry helps detect bone mineral loss at an early stage, because it provides accurate quantitative measurement of BMD. Dual X-ray absorptiometry is generally considered to be the gold standard in the assessment of patients' BMD to determine the risk of fracture and monitor treatment effectiveness. Other imaging and quantitative techniques used to analyze bone quality include quantitative computed tomography (QCT), high-resolution peripheral QCT, magnetic resonance imaging, and quantitative ultrasonography. This course will cover current techniques to measure BMD, describe novel techniques to study bone quality, and focus on how standard imaging techniques should be used to establish BMD values for initial treatment and follow-up.

Learning Objectives:
After completing this course, the participant should be able to:

• SUMMARIZE the pathophysiology and risk factors for being diagnosed with osteoporosis (OP).
• OUTLINE the structure, physiology, function, and types of bone as related to OP.
• RECALL the laboratory tests used to assist in diagnosing patients with OP and ruling out other conditions or disease processes.
• IDENTIFY the limitations of digital X-ray radiogrammetry and radiographic absorptiometry in the evaluation of patients with suspected OP.
• SUMMARIZE the role of single-energy X-ray absorptiometry and peripheral dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for the evaluation of patients with possible OP.
• EXPLAIN the various components and technologies that make up a DXA system.
• IDENTIFY the most common parts of the body that are scanned during bone density testing and OP imaging studies.
• OUTLINE the roles of quantitative computed tomography and quantitative ultrasound in diagnosing OP.
• RECALL the basic functionality of sonography, CT, and MRI imaging systems and their terminology.
• SUMMARIZE the role of MRI-based quantitative imaging of the spine and femur in diagnosing OP.