Bone Quality in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Girls - A Case-control Study.

Aims: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is associated with low bone mass. The commonly used Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) could only measure areal-BMD (aBMD). With recent advancement in bone micro-imaging technology and the availability of high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT), it becomes possible to obtain the in-vivo measurement of various bone quality parameters including Bone Morphometry, Volumetric BMD (vBMD) and Trabecular Bone Micro-architecture. The objective of this study was to use HR-pQCT to evaluate important bone quality parameters associated with osteopenia in AIS and non-AIS controls. Methods: AIS (n=112) and non-AIS girls (n=115) between 11-13 years old were recruited. aBMD of femoral necks was measured by DXA. Subjects were classified into the osteopenic (Z-score≤-1) and non-osteopenic (Z-score>-1) group. Bone morphometry, trabecular bone micro-architecture and volumetric BMD (vBMD) were measured at the non-dominant distal radius using the XtremeCT. Results: In AIS, the osteopenic group had lower measurements in Cortical Area, Cortical Thickness, Average vBMD, Compact Bone vBMD, Trabecular Bone vBMD, Trabecular Bone Volume to Tissue Volume Ratio and Trabecular Thickness when compared with non-osteopenic AIS subjects. In contrast, among the non-AIS controls, the osteopenic group had lower measurements only in bone morphometry, Average vBMD and Compact Bone vBMD but not in all the other trabecular bone microarchitecture parameters. Conclusions and discussion: Bone quality in osteopenic AIS patients was uniquely different from that of osteopenic non-AIS controls. Among those with osteopenia, abnormality in bone morphometry was noted in both AIS and non-AIS groups. In contrast, alterations in the trabecular compartment in association with osteopenia were only present in AIS subjects. Further studies in these areas are warranted for characterizing the bone quality and its role in the etiopathogenesis of AIS.

Citation

W S Yu, K Y Chan, F W P Yu, H Y Yeung, K M Lee, K W Ng, Y Qiu, T P Lam, J C Y Cheng. Bone Quality in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Girls - A Case-control Study. Studies in health technology and informatics. 2012;176:471

PMID: 22744574

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