HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF BONE DENSITOMETRY - RESULTS CAN HELP ASSESS FRACTURE RISK AND GUIDE THERAPY

According to a 1998 estimate by the US Department of Health and Human Services, 23 million women have some degree of decreased bone strength . Bone loss is often age-related, because the rate accelerates for sev eral years after menopause. However, certain conditions (eg, amenorrhe a, long term use of corti costeroids, hyperthyroidism) can cause reduc ed bone mass or accelerated loss independent of patient age or sex. In this article, the authors discuss when bone densitometry is appropria te and summarize how to interpret and best use findings of the densito metry report.