The diagnosis of osteoporosis and the determination of fracture risk has always been a challenge for radiologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians as well as oth er researchers and health care professionals working in the field. It is bone min eral density that is closely related to bone fragility, and the advent of techniques to quantitatively assess bone density has been welcomed. It has reduced the sub jectivity inherent to conventional radiologic assessment of osteoporosis. The on going technical process has made various techJ)iques to assess bone density wide ly available. However, these measurement techniques have also incurred some crit icism because bone densitometry has sometimes been applied without specific indications and without appropriate clinical ramifications. The purpose of this text is to provide a perspective on the current status of bone densitometry and ist relevance to osteoporosis diagnosis and management. Therefore, this book will give the reader an introduction to the nature of osteo porosis, its pathophysiology and epidemiology, and the clinical consequences of performing bone densitometry. Aside from standard bone densitometry, newer technologies such as quantitative ultrasound techniques, magnetic resonance imaging and bone structure analysis are discussed in the context of diagnosing osteoporosis.

1 Osteoporosis: The Clinical Problem

2 Epidemiology of Osteoporosis
3 The Physiology of Bone Turnover
4 Growth Factors and the Skeleton
5 Cellular Basis of Bone Resorption
6 Biochemical Markers of Bone Turnover
7 Determinants of Bone Loss
8 Biomechanical Properties of Bone
9 Risk Factors for Osteoporosis Fractures
10 Bone Biopsy in Metabolic Bone Disease
11 Radiology of Osteoporosis
12 Assessment of Vertebral Fracture
13 Basic Considerations and Definitions in Bone Densitometry
14 Radiogrammetry and Radiographic Absorptiometry
15 Single- and Dual-Energy: X-Ray Absorptiometry
16 Quantitative Computed Tomography at the Axial Skeleton
17 Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography
18 Comparison of Quantitative Computed Tomography and Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry at the Lumbar Spine in the Diagnosis of Osteoporosis
19 Quantitative Ultrasound for Assessing Bone Properties
20 Applications of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Study of Osteoporosis
21 Beyond Bone Densitometry: Assessment of Bone Architecture by X-Ray Computed Tomography at Various Levels of Resolution
22 Which Site, Which Method? Dilemmas in Bone Densitometry
23 Quality Assurance in Bone Densitometry
24 Clinical Application of Bone Densitometry
25 Bone Densitometry in Children
26 Bone Mass and Bone Loss in Secondary Osteoporosis
27 Assessing the Response to Treatment for Osteoporosis
28 Periprosthetic Bone Mineral Density and Other Orthopedic Applications
29 Osteoporosis and Oral Bone Loss: Mandibular Bone Density and Its Relationship to Systemic Osteoporosis in Edentulous Women.