Analysis of Bone Mineral Density in the Advanced Osteoporotic Spine with Osteoarthritis

Kim, Kyung Chul; Koo, Bon Seop; Won, Sang Yeon

Abstract

Measurement of bone mineral density(BMD) of the spine may be affected by the presence of various factors such as osteophytes, osteosclerosis and spinal deformity, particularly in elderly persons. Therefore the accurate evaluation for osteoporosis is difficult in osteoarthritic spine and until now no technique can evaluate true mineral density of the osteoarthritic spine. So we performed this study to evaluate the effect of osteoarthritic changes of the spine on the BMD and various BMD values such as young-adult% and age-matched%. Additionally we evaluated the diagnostic value of the Singhs index in the advanced osteoporotic spine. We reviewed 50 patients with advanced osteoporosis of the spine retrospectively and they were divided into two groups; one consisted of 22 patients with osteoporosis alone and the other consisted of 28 patients with osteoporosis and osteoarthritic change on the spine. The measured mean BMD value in AP plane and that expressed in relation to reference data for young adults(young-adult%) of the patients with arthritic and osteoporotic spine were significantly higher than those of the patients with osteoporosis alone. On the other hand, values expressed in relation to the age and sex matched mean reference data(age-matched%) were not significantly higher in group of patients with osteoporosis and osteoarthritic change, and Singh s index was not diagnostic for the osteoporosis of the spine. But young-adult% were significantly lower than agematched% even in the osteoarthritic group. We concluded that young-adult% is mare useful value for diagnosis of the advanced osteoporosis in the osteoarthritic spine.