The precision of digital X-ray radiogrammetry compared with DXA in subjects with normal bone density or osteoporosis

Digital X-ray radiogrammetry (DXR) is a technique to estimate bone mineral density (BMD) that can be available in any area able to take a standard radiograph of the hand. We aimed to establish the precision of this technique and compare this with that obtained by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the hip and spine. We compared DXA and DXR in 28 women with osteoporosis defined by DXA at the femoral neck and in 28 women with normal BMD. We found that DXR has excellent precision of 0.004 g/cm(2) compared with 0.021 g/cm(2) and 0.015 g/cm(2) obtained by DXA at the hip and spine, respectively. We conclude that DXR measured by the automated Pronosco system has excellent precision.