Bone Imaging and Fracture Risk after Spinal Cord Injury

W. Brent Edwards*, Thomas J. Schnitzer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is characterized by marked bone loss and an increased risk of fracture with high complication rate. Recent research based on advanced imaging analysis, including quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and patient-specific finite element (FE) modeling, has provided new and important insights into the magnitude and temporal pattern of bone loss, as well as the associated changes to bone structure and strength, following SCI. This work has illustrated the importance of early therapeutic treatment to prevent bone loss after SCI and may someday serve as the basis for a clinical fracture risk assessment tool for the SCI population. This review provides an update on the epidemiology of fracture after SCI and discusses new findings and significant developments related to bone loss and fracture risk assessment in the SCI population based on QCT analysis and patient-specific FE modeling.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)310-317
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Osteoporosis Reports
Volume13
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 7 2015

Keywords

  • Bone fracture
  • Bone strength
  • DXA
  • Disuse osteoporosis
  • Finite element model
  • QCT
  • Spinal cord injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism

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