Hip & Spine
Inexpensive & non-invasive bone quality measurement
Osteoporosis Assessment using Hip (HX) and Spine (SX) X-rays
ImaTx has developed a widely available, convenient and cost-efficient measurement of bone quality related to osteoporosis using standard hip and spine radiographs.
Why use hip & spine radiographs?
Comparison to current techniques
How it's done
Details of Clinical Study - Spine Imaging
Details of Clinical Study - Hip Fracture Prediction
Current use and availability
Why use hip & spine radiographs
The most commonly used measurement used for the diagnostic of osteoporosis is the bone mineral density (BMD) of the hip and spine using a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) instrument. The proximal femur, hip and vertebrae contain an abundance of trabecular bone (spongy bone) that are visible on ordinary radiographs. Previous research has shown that structural characteristics of trabecular bone are an important consideration for bone quality assessment Also important are macro-structural measurements of the gross bone geometry (shape and dimension) and the thickness of the cortical bone (compact bone). Both trabecular pattern and macro-structural measurements can be performed on hip and spine radiographs and made widely available using ImaTx HX & ImaTx SX.
The resolution available in these radiographs captures a wealth of relevant and useful structural information that is currently underutilized and that are not being extracted by current BMD measurements methods. ImaTx HX and SX extracts and translates this information into bone quality metrics that can be interpreted by physicians for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring and fracture prediction in patients with osteoporosis.
The vast majority of patients with osteoporosis are undiagnosed despite the fact that early detection and treatment can reduce the risk of fracture. This is because there are major drawbacks and bottlenecks in diagnosing osteoporosis using DXA. DXA has limited presence in acute medical care centers because equipment is expensive ($50k-$95k per machine) and requires a lot of space. Even more importantly, DXA cannot measure bone structure/quality, parameters that are rapidly gaining importance in determination of risk for osteoporotic fractures.
Comparison to current techniques
- Should greatly improve the prediction of hip and spine fracture
- Should enable earlier, more effective treatment of osteoporosis
- Should vastly improve accurate monitoring of treatment
- Uses any standard or digital radiograph
- Capable of full automation
- No requirement for new capital equipment
- Can use existing CPT codes (Radiographic Absorptiometry, CPT 76078)
- Currently being evaluated to assess drugs being developed by several major pharmaceutical companies
How it's done
Diagnostic quality radiographs are taken using ImaTx protocol and digitized using a radiographic film digitizer or an approved transparency scanner. Images are then loaded onto ImaTx HX software (or ImaTx SX for spine x-rays) that automatically places regions of interest. The operator then confirms the placement or has the opportunity to adjust the placement for difficult cases. The software then proceeds to extract and measure relevant structural information. A report tailored to the end user needs is then generated.
