Quantitative diagnosis of skeletons with demineralizing osteopathy

The quantitative diagnosis of bone diseases must be assessed according to the accuracy of the applied method, the expense in apparatus, personnel and financial resources and the comparability of results. Nuclide absorptiometry and in the future perhaps computed tomography represent the most accurate methods for determining the mineral content of bones. Their application is the clinics' prerogative because of the costs. Morphometry provides quantiative information, in particular in course control, and enables an objective judgement of visual pictures. It requires little expenditure and should be combined with microradioscopy. Direct comparability of the findings of different working groups is most easy in morphometry; it depends on the equipment in computerized tomography and is still hardly possible in nuclide absorptiometry. For fundamental physical reason, it will hardly be possible to produce a low-cost, fast and easy-to-handle instrument for the determination of the mineral salt concentration in bones. Instead, there is rather a trend towards more expensive equipment, e.g. CT instruments; the universal use of these instruments, however, will help to promote quantitative diagnoses. (orig.)