VFA Adds Acuracy to DXA Testing

Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) identifies many persons with Clinical Osteoporosis who are missed by DXA testing alone.  How many?  I reviewed my first 941 patients to have VFA with their DXA (Feb 2010 – Sept 2012).  I was amazed.

25% of the total had at least one Genant grade 2 or 3 Vertebral Deformity on VFA but were not identified as Osteoporosis by DXA.  This is Clinical Osteoporosis missed by DXA alone in 25% of my total patients.

As an orthopedic surgeon, my main concern has been bone quality.  Poor bone quality (“mush for bone”) is a big deal when you are placing screws and other implants.  Vertebral compression fracture deformities found on VFA have been a more accurate warning of “mush for bone” than BMD by DXA.

“Mush for bone” also predicts fractures

Today I am presenting the full study to the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) Annual Meeting & Position Development Conference.  I hope to generate discussion.  Clearly we need a larger study of many thousands of individuals to better study this issue.

Jay Ginther, MD

Categorised in: Evaluation and Screening, Healthcare Professionals, Osteoporosis