Treat to Target #5 – VFA

Treat to Target of NO NEW FRACTURES.  How do we find that target?  DXA >-2.5 is a start.  Fragility fractures increase new fracture risk.  FRAX adds many more risk factors to the...

ISCD 2015

Driving to Chicago in February was cold and snowing.  But it was hot indoors at the ISCD (International Society for Clinical Densitometry) Annual Meeting and Position Development Conference (PDC). While...

Not Just DXA – Fracture Risk !!

DXA is very good at determining Bone Mineral Density (BMD), provided you look at the images and over-read the computer.  DXA alone is less good at predicting Fracture Risk.  But,...

You Don’t Have To Fall To Break A Hip

Sometimes a person breaks a hip first, then they fall.  This happens a lot more often than we realize.  When the break is just below the ball of the hip,...

How Hard Is It To Manage Bone Density?

Wrong Question!  What you should be managing is Fracture Risk.  If you only look at Bone Mineral Density (BMD), you miss the chance to decrease Fracture Risk in the overwhelming...

Identify Fracture Risk – Prevent Fractures

Tomorrow I am at the 2014 National Osteoporosis Foundation meeting.  Actually the name “National Prevent Fractures Organization” would better explain our goals.  We don’t care about Osteoporosis as much as...

ASBMR 2013

The American Society for Bone & Mineral Research 35th Annual Meeting has just concluded.  Of the roughly 2000 attendees, nearly half were form other countries.  Most are PhD researchers dealing...

DXA Alone Misses Most Fracture Victims

If you screen by DXA alone you fail to identify most of the individuals who will fracture.  Over 80% of fracture patients over age 50 have “osteopenia” or “normal” as their Bone...

What’s That For?

Patients often ask “What’s that for?” when I order blood tests.  They understand that DXA is for Bone Mineral Density (BMD).  They understand Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) when I show...

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...