INVESTIGATIVE RADIOLOGY Volume 28, Number 7, 573-580 ??1993, J.B. Lippincott Company The Relationship of Trabecular and Cortical Bone Mineral Density to Spinal Fractures

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The relationships between trabecular, cortical, or integral bone mineral densities (BMD) to spontaneous vertebral fractures was investigated. METHODS: In 360 Japanese women, ranging from 20 to 83 years of age, vertebral trabecular and cortical BMD were measured using quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Among 46 oophorectomized women, BMD was measured using QCT and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). RESULTS: For patients in their sixth and seventh decades, those with fractures could be differentiated from those without fractures by measuring their trabecular BMD using QCT. Cortical BMD of women with fractures and trabecular BMD more than 80 mg/mL was significantly lower than that of women without fractures and trabecular BMD less than 70 mg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: Trabecular BMD can be a good predictor of spinal fracture. Cortical BMD may be important in cases with decreased trabecular BMD.