THE RELIABILITY AND REPRESENTATIVITY OF NON-DYNAMIC BONE HISTOMORPHOMETRY IN UREMIC OSTEODYSTROPHY

In order to evaluate the reliability and representativity of iliac cre st bone biopsy in uremic osteodystrophy, non-dynamic bone histomorphom etry was performed post-mortem on the right and left iliac crests and the 3rd lumbar vertebra in 20 patients with chronic uremia. High (>0.8 ) right-left correlation coefficients were found for bone volume, oste oid volume, osteoid surface, osteoid thickness, eroded surface, osteoc last surface and aluminium labelling intensity; moderate (0.7-0.8) for trabecular thickness, and low (<0.7) for cortical thickness, porosity and aluminium bone concentration. High iliac crest-vertebra correlati ons were found for trabecular thickness, osteoid volume, osteoid surfa ce, eroded surface, osteoclast surface and aluminium labelling intensi ty, and low correlations for bone volume, osteoid thickness and bone a luminium concentration. In conclusion, non-dynamic iliac trabecular bo ne indices are reliable variables and, with the possible exception of bone mass determination, indicative of systemic bone disease. Bone alu minium concentration and cortical bone indices are unreliable measures of uremic bone disease. These reservations apply to the diagnostic us e of biopsy in individuals, but not necessarily its research use in gr oups of patients.