Relationships of Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Bone Mineral Density by Quantitative CT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to compare, using quantitative CT (QCT), vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine in healthy volunteers. METHOD: QCT of the vertebral bodies of C2, C5, T12, and L4 was performed on 50 healthy volunteers (25 women, 25 men; mean age 31.7 years). Trabecular BMD analysis was performed at each level. RESULTS: Mean BMDs (mg/cm3 calcium hydroxyapatite) for women and men were highest at C5 (BMD women/men 341.6/300.6 mg/cm3) and C2 (297.2/269.6 mg/cm3) and lowest at T12 (193.1/184.9 mg/cm3) and L4 (186.2/180.1 mg/cm3). The BMD of C2 was statistically significantly different from that of C5, T12, and L4 (p < 0.0001) for both genders. Also, the BMD of C5 differed significantly from that of T12 and L4 (p < 0.0001). The BMD of C5 showed significant gender differences (p = 0.002). Correlation coefficient showed a strong correlation between the BMD of T12 and L4 for both genders (women, r = 0.67; men, r = 0.90). CONCLUSION: Trabecular BMD of C2 and C5 measured by QCT is significantly higher than trabecular BMD of T12 and L4 in nonosteoporotic volunteers of both genders.