Teriparatide Treatment Increases Hounsfield Units in the Thoracic Spine, Lumbar Spine, Sacrum, and Ilium Out of Proportion to the Cervical Spine.

Clinical spine surgery 2021 Aug 01

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This was a retrospective chart review. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of teriparatide on Hounsfield Units (HU) in the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, sacrum, and pelvis. Second, to correlate HU changes at each spinal level with bone mineral density (BMD) on dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). HU represent a method to estimate BMD and can be used either separately or in conjunction with BMD from DXA. A retrospective chart review included patients who had been treated with at least 6 months of teriparatide. HU were measured in the vertebral bodies of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral spine and iliac crests. Lumbar and femoral neck BMD as measured on DXA was collected when available. One hundred twenty-five patients were identified for analysis with an average age of 67 years who underwent a mean (±SD) of 22±8 months of teriparatide therapy. HU improvement in the cervical spine was 11% (P=0.19), 25% in the thoracic spine (P=0.002), 23% in the lumbar spine (P=0.027), 17% in the sacrum (P=0.11), and 29% in the iliac crests (P=0.09). Lumbar HU correlated better than cervical HU with BMD as measured on DXA. Teriparatide increased average HU in the thoracolumbar spine to a proportionally greater extent than the cervical spine. The cervical spine had a higher baseline starting HU than the thoracolumbar spine. Lumbar HU correlated better than cervical and thoracic HU with BMD as measured on DXA. Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Anthony L Mikula, Jeffery D St Jeor, Ryan M Naylor, James T Bernatz, Nitesh P Patel, Jeremy L Fogelson, Annalise Noelle Larson, Ahmad Nassr, Arjun S Sebastian, Brett Freedman, Bradford L Currier, Mohamad Bydon, Kurt A Kennel, Michael J Yaszemski, Paul A Anderson, Benjamin D Elder. Teriparatide Treatment Increases Hounsfield Units in the Thoracic Spine, Lumbar Spine, Sacrum, and Ilium Out of Proportion to the Cervical Spine. Clinical spine surgery. 2021 Aug 01;34(7):E370-E376