Quantitative mineral salt evaluation in the calcaneous bone using computed tomography, 125I-photon absorption and chemical analysis to compare the value of the individual methods

It was the aim of the study described here to verify the accuracy of two different methods for the quantitative evaluation of mineral salts, which were the 125I-photon absorption technique on the one hand and wholebody CT on the other hand. For this purpose, post-mortem examinations of 31 calcaneous bones were carried out to evaluate their individual mineral salt contents in vitro using either of the above-mentioned methods. The results obtained were subsequently contrasted with calcium concentrations determined by chemical analysis. A comparison of the individual mineral salt evaluations with the results from calcium analyses pointed to a highly significant correlation (p=0.001) for both methods under investigation. The same held for the correlation of findings from CT and the 125I-hydroxylapatite technique, where the level of significance was also p=0.001. The above statements must, however, be modified in as much as the mineral salt values measured by CT were consistently lower than those obtained on the basis of 125I-photon absorption. These deviations are chiefly attributable to the fact that the values provided by CT are more susceptible to influences from the fat contained in the bones. In 125I-photon absorption a special formula may be derived to allow for the bias occurring here, provided that the composition of the bone is known. To summarise, the relative advantages and drawbacks of CT and 125I-photon absorption are carefully balanced. Mineral salt evaluations by CT permit incipient losses to be ascertained even in the trunk. The 125I-photon absorption technique would appear to be the obvious method for any kind of follow-up examination in the peripheral skeleton, as it is easily reproducible and radiation exposure can be kept to minimum. (TRV)