Abstract
Osteoporosis leads to higher bone fracture risk and is diagnosed by DXA. Unfortunately, DXA is not a perfect surrogate of bone strength and can often not explain the effect of pharmacological treatment. Currently a new methodology to determine bone strength becomes established: the Finite element method (FEM). This universal, widely accepted engineering method allows to diagnose bone fragility and the effect of treatment better than DXA and QCT. The CT-based FE models depend highly on image resolution. In this review, three types of models are presented (μCT, HR-pQCT, QCT) and the results of densitometric and FEM results are compared. In these cases, the FE results were always superior to densitometric ones. In addition, FE allows to determine a biomechanical fracture risk. Nevertheless, this advantage of FEM needs to be considered in the light of higher X-ray dose and service costs associated with CT imaging. In the future, FEM will be widely applied in the clinics, the question is only when and how.
| Translated title of the contribution | Finite element simulations in clinical osteoporosis research |
|---|---|
| Original language | German |
| Pages (from-to) | 7-12 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Osteologie |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine