Diagnosis Imaging techniques

Diagnostic methods in osteoporosis The diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis continue to present one of the great challenges to US health care providers. The rising costs associated with osteoporotic fractures in an aging population are increasingly difficult to deal with, while at the same time costs incurred in attempts at preven-tion may also seem prohibitive to those agencies which must bear them. Radiologic imaging provides the best means of both diagnosing fracture risk ard tracking the progress of therapeutic intervention. There are many monitoring options available to the clinician whose task it is to treat os-teoporosis. Single and dual photon absorptiometry have largely given way to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry which represents the most widely used means of measuring bone density. Ultrasound technology is improv-ing and may make significant inroads in this area. Technological problems still remain to be resolved in bone density ultrasonography