Quantitative CT bone mineral analysis measures the calcium content of the spine.

Osteoporosis, or thinning of the bones due to loss of calcium, is an increasingly common problem in middle aged and mature women and it can lead to crush fractures of the spine or more serious fractures of the hips. There are several techniques available to measure the calcium content of the spine and we choose to use the modern CT method.

What to expect?

It is a simple and painless procedure. The patient lies on a comfortable bed and special CT scans are taken through the lumbar spine. From these pictures the calcium content of the trabecular or spongy bone in the centre of each vertebra is measured and plotted on a graph. (It is the central trabecular bone which determines bone strength, not the cortical bone around the outside of the vertebral body.) The procedure takes only a few minutes and no injection or special preparation is required.

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