Simple Bone Scans OK for Some Patients.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Simple, less expensive alternatives to dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans for measuring bone mineral density may be sufficient if results are normal but probably are not enough if results show low density and you're considering treatment, Dr. Steven T. Harris said.

Relatively inexpensive, compact devices for measuring bone mineral density have become popular in clinics and are being used in promotions by pharmacies, at the same time that some insurers are refusing to cover the cost of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans in many patients. Ultrasound devices aimed at the heel and peripheral x-ray devices aimed at the forearm can provide useful information about a person's fracture risk.

Yet the bone mineral density measurements at these sites don't necessarily correlate with density at other key anatomic sites such as the spine and hip, he said at a meeting on endocrinology and metabolism sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco.

The ongoing National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment project is trying to quantitate how much additional information is obtained by measuring more than one anatomic site and how much is obtained from various sites. "The preliminary take on this would be that your risk of fracture is a function of the number of low ...