Silvia Capuani1, Guglielmo Manenti2, Roberto Sorge3, Parfait Assako2, Umberto Tarantino4, Salvatore Masala2, Giovanni Simonetti2
1Physics Department, CNR IPCF Roma "Sapienza " University of Rome, Rome, Italy, Italy; 2Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Molecular Imaging and Radiotherapy, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy; 3Institute of Medical Informatics and Biometry, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy; 4Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, PTV Foundation, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
We reported, for the first time, MD and FA results obtained from femoral neck of healthy (H), osteopenic (OPE) and osteoporotic (OPO) subjects, classified according to DXA criteria. Because MD and FA in cancellous bone depend on both the trabecular-bone rearrangement and the marrow fat-water ratio content (FF) a DTI protocol in combination with 1H-MRS was used. Our preliminary results, show that MD/FF and FA/FF differentiate among H, OPE and OPO subjects with a high sensitivity and specificity in identifying H subjects. DTI-1H-MRS assessment in femoral neck might represent a potential procedure to improve the diagnostic confidence of osteoporosis.