Quantification of bone mineral measured by single-energy computed tomography

Twenty cadaver femoral condyles were examined with single-energy quantitated computed tomography (QCT), and the composition of the bone scanned was analyzed chemically. The calcium concentration correlated well with the QCT density (r = 0.89, P less than 0.001). The highest correlation was recorded between the total calcium content in the scanned slices and the bone mass-related measures recorded by QCT (r = 0.96, P less than 0.001). Single-energy computed tomography thus provides an accurate measure of total bone mineral content.