REVIEWS  Insights in metabolic syndrome 

Panminerva Medica 2006 September;48(3):181-6

Copyright © 2006 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Geometry and bone density

Radetti G. ¹, Rigon F. ², Tonini G. ³, Tatò L. ⁴, Bernasconi S. ⁵, Bona G. ⁶, Bozzola M. ⁷, Buzi F. ⁸, De Sanctis C. ⁹, De Sanctis V. ¹⁰

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Regional Hospital of Bolzano Bolzano, Italy 2 Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Padua, Italy 3 Department of Pediatrics, IRCCS Burlo Garofalo Trieste, Italy 4 Department of Pediatrics, Policlinico Borgo Roma Verona, Italy 5 Department of Pediatrics, University of Parma, Parma, Italy 6 Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Piedmont University Novara, Italy 7 Department of Pediatrics, San Matteo Polyclinic, Pavia, Italy 8 Department of Pediatrics, Municipal Hospital, Brescia, Italy 9 Department of Pediatrics Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, Turin, Italy 10 Department of Pediatrics, S. Anna Hospital, Ferrara, Italy

Bone development is a key process in the growing child. It is, therefore, of paramount importance to survey this process, which is characterized by increasing length and size of the bone together with its progressive mineralization. The bone status can be evaluated by different techniques, each of them having its pros and cons. Furthermore, it should be underlined that the results of bone assessment depend not only from the employed technique but also from the auxological characteristics of the subjects. It is, therefore, the aim of this review to examine the characteristics of the various methods of bone evaluation, such as dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), ultrasound and metacarpal index and to explain how changes in bone structure and geometry may influence the results.