How is the Agreement of DXA and QUS of Phalanx in Defining Osteoporosis in Healthy Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

QUS (Quantitative Ultrasound) of phalanx is a noninvasive, inexpensive and portable method for bone mineral densitometry. It seems it measures some other parameters in addition to BMD, like elasticity and micro architecture. This study designed to determine the agreement of DXA and QUS of phalanx in Defining Osteoporosis in Healthy Postmenopausal Women Using DXA, BMD of lumbar spine and Different areas of left femur and using QUS, BMD of phalanx was measured in 180 healthy postmenopausal women. The diagnostic agreement between the two techniques in identifying osteoporosis was assessed using kappa scores. According to the World Health Organization definitions, Osteoporosis found in 28.8% of cases with DXA method (18.3% in L2-L4 and 3.9%-7.8% in different region of femur) and in 28.9% of cases with Phalanx ultrasonography). Kappa score was 0.317 for lumbar region and 0.036-0.068 for different regions femur. Results of this study show a weak to moderate agreement of two methods in diagnosis of osteoporosis. It means QUS of phalanx can’t be used as a replacement for DXA method but could be used as a screening method for finding osteoporotic cases.