The clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis is currently based on the quantification of bone mineral density (BMD) performed by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of those skeletal sites with high trabecular content, such as spine and proximal femur [1]. However, this diagnostic tool is characterized by a low predictive value on patients’ risk of reporting bone fracture [2,3]. Topological properties of trabecular microstructure, bone turnover, and composition of bone marrow may contribute in determining bone strength and its resistance to fracture [4]. In this regard, unlike DXA,...

Subjects Forty Caucasian postmenopausal women (mean age, 68.7±8.9 years; age range, 52-81 years) were recruited. The eligibility for enrollment was assessed on the base of their BMD measurements and with questionnaires focusing on personal data. Exclusion criteria: clinical evidence or history of metabolic bone disease; focal lesions of the femur; neoplastic disease; contraindications to the use of MRI; previous hip surgery or irradiation; hip trauma; current use of steroids or hormone replacement therapy; current use of osteoporotic medication based on bisphosphonates. DXA examination The forty...

Subjects Three subjects were excluded from the analysis due to motion artifacts on DWI images (two subjects) or due to incomplete acquisition of the MR protocol (one subject). The final number of women evaluated for this study was thirty seven (mean age, 70.6±6.8 years; age range, 55-80 years) (Table 2). No correlation was found between subjects’ T-scores and age, and no age, weight, height and BMI differences were statistically significant among groups (Table 2). No correlation between the body mass index (BMI) and the DXA...

DTI parameters mean diffusivity, MD and fractional anisotropy, FA (which is the anisotropy normalized standard deviation of diffusion measurements in different directions) provide an exquisite and useful tool for non-invasive and intravoxel investigation of human tissue microstructures [15-17] In this work, we hypothesized that in cancellous bone, bone marrow water is primarily restricted between bone trabeculae and bone marrow fat [13]. In such a situation water shows a slower dynamic compared to that of free water. In particular, since the amount of bone-marrow water compared...

References [1] Assessment of fracture risk and its application to screening for postmenopausal osteoporosis: report of a WHO study group, World Health Organ. Tech. Rep. Ser. 843 (1994) 1–129. [2] J.A. Kanis, Diagnosis of osteoporosis and assessment of fracture risk, Lancet 359 (2002) 1929-1936. [3] B. Cortet, X. Marchandise, Bone microarchitecture and mechanical resistance, Joint Bone Spine 68 (2001) 297-305. [4] J.F. Griffith, H.K. Genant, Bone mass and architecture determination: state of the art, Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 22 (2008) 737-764....