Total body bone mineral and lean body mass by dual-photon absorptiometry

Abstract

Dual-photon absorptiometry using¹⁵³Gd (44 and 100 keV) was used to measure the bone mineral content (BMC) of the trunk and of the total body (TBBM) in 7 volunteers with no overt bone disease. These values were compared to those obtained with partial-body neutron activation of calcium (trunk Ca). The trunk Ca seemed to represent best a 60 × 30 cm area; the correlation coefficient with the corresponding BMC in that area was 0.97 (SEE ⋍ 7%). Trunk Ca was also highly correlated with TBBM (r=0.96; SEE=8%) and with radius BMC (r=0.92; SEE=11%), but the correlations with the BMC of smaller subareas of the trunk were lower (r⋍0.9; SEE ∼ 12%). The BMC of the lumbar spine was only moderately correlated with trunk Ca, radius BMC and TBBM (r ∼ 0.82; SEE ∼ 18%), and only slightly more associated with trunk BMC (r ∼ 0.88; SEE ∼ 14%). The BMC of the combined lumbar-thoracic spine showed higher correlations with trunk Ca, radius BMC and TBBM (r ∼ 0.87; SEE ∼ 13%), and trunk BMC (r=0.93; SEE ∼ 10%). An accurate and sensitive measure of spinal status requires a direct measurement of that area.