Osteoporosis in spine surgery patients: what is the best way to diagnose osteoporosis in this population?

CONCLUSIONS: Limitations in the use of DXA T-scores alone to diagnose osteoporosis in patients with lumbar spondylosis has prompted interest in additional methods of evaluating bone health in the spine, such as CT HU, TBS, and FRAX, to inform guidelines that aim to reduce fracture risk. However, no current osteoporosis assessment was developed with a focus on improving outcomes in spinal surgery. Therefore, the authors propose an expanded spine definition for osteoporosis to identify a more comprehensive cohort of patients with potential poor bone health who could be considered for preoperative optimization, although further study is needed to validate these results in terms of clinical outcomes.
PMID: 32738802 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Neurosurgical Focus - July 31, 2020 Category: Neurosurgery Authors: St Jeor JD, Jackson TJ, Xiong AE, Kadri A, Freedman BA, Sebastian AS, Currier BL, Nassr A, Fogelson JL, Kennel KA, Anderson PA, Elder BD Tags: Neurosurg Focus Source Type: research