[Assessment of hip fracture risk related to the structure]

Bone strength is determined not only by BMD, but also by many other bone quality relating factors such as bone structure etc.. Hip fractures are the most serious fragile fractures, considering that controlling their risk factors will successfully prevent these fractures. Recently Hip structure (strength) analyses have become available during standard DXA measurements. Bending strength and stability of the bone can be determined by their obtained parameters such as section modulus, cross sectional area and buckling ratio. These parameters shift towards fragile by aging, especially remarkably reduce after 70 years. It has been reported that both anti-resorptive agents and anabolic PTH increase bone strength in different manner. Further progressed 3 dimensional femoral neck strength analysis using CT scanning are now under development.