Portable bone mineral density scanners: a review of the clinical effectiveness

Tran K, Banks R
Record ID 32011001208
English
Authors' recommendations: Two types of portable BMD scanners identified in this review are QUS and peripheral DXA. The heel is the validated site for QUS, while wrist or heel measurements are used for peripheral DXA. QUS appears to be better than peripheral DXA in the fracture risk assessment, according to the ISCD guidelines. These guidelines indicated that BMD measurements of different devices could not be directly compared. Both heel QUS and peripheral DXA should not be used to diagnose osteoporosis based on the WHO criteria. If central DXA is not available, heel QUS or peripheral DXA could be used in conjunction with clinical risk factors to initiate treatment or for screening of populations with low fracture risk. No information was identified on the number of sites that should be scanned with portable BMD scanners. The limited information should be considered when deciding about the use of portable BMD scanners.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2009
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: Canada
MeSH Terms
  • Bone Density
  • Ultrasonics
Contact
Organisation Name: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
Contact Address: 600-865 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 5S8 Canada. Tel: +1 613 226 2553; Fax: +1 613 226 5392;
Contact Name: requests@cadth.ca
Contact Email: requests@cadth.ca
Copyright: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.