[Nuclear medicine methods for the determination of bone mineral content]

Osteoporosis is becoming recognized as a major social and economical health problem. Bone mineral content (BMC) depends on many hormonal and metabolic factors. The pathophysiological mechanism of the loss of bone mass is still unclear. For preventive diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis, quantitative technology is required that will measure BMC with high precision and reproducibility. Nuclear medical methods permit the BMC of the appendicular skeleton to be measured by single photon absorptiometry. Whole-body BMC, as well as spine and femur BMC, can be measured by dual photon absorptiometry. The results from both procedures are reasonably precise and correlate well with the ash weight of isolated bone. The radiation exposure level in both SPA and DPA is low. SPA and DPA may be used for cost-effective screening of high-risk patients to predict the likelihood of future fractures and control osteoporosis therapy.