Comparison of Microradioscopic and Morphometric Findings in the Hand Bones with Densitometric Findings in the Proximal Radius in Thyrotoxicosis and in Renal Osteodystrophy

Microradioscopic patterns in the 2nd metacarpal bone and of the phalanges of digits II-IV were studied in normal subjects and in patients with thyrotoxicosis. Abnormal metacarpal striations were found in 73% of thyrotoxic patients. The degree of metacarpal striation correlated significantly with densitometrically determined bone mineral density in the radius but not with bone mineral mass. Comparison of these findings with our previously published results in chronic renal disease showed similar densitometric and morphometric patterns in both conditions, except that metacarpal striation was found in only 16% of patients with chronic renal disease, and, in all these, subperiosteal resorption was also present. Metacarpal cortical thickness measurements in these two diseases were found to be diagnostically inferior to the findings by other methods used in this study.