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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 12:30 P.M. (CDT) ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005

NEW DEVICE MAY HELP PREDICT FRACTURE RISK

Nashville (Sept. 23, 2005) – A new high-resolution imaging device, the XtremeCT (manufacturer: Scanco Medical AG), may better predict fractures in women than standard bone mineral density measurements, according to study results presented at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). Other studies have shown approximately 50 percent of fractures will occur in women who do not meet the World Health Organization criteria for a diagnosis of osteoporosis.

Members of the research team of Pierre D. Delmas, M.D., at Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France, including principal study author Stéphanie Boutroy, used the new scanner to examine the bones of 108 healthy, premenopausal women and 148 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia (low bone mass).

The XtremeCT is a peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) scanner. It is one of a new breed of imaging devices capable of such high resolution that they are visualize the internal structure of bones in a way previously possible only with actual biopsy specimens of bone. The XtremeCT studies yield highly magnified cross-sectional images of bones in living patients that can substitute for invasive surgical biopsies at least in terms of evaluating bone architecture. Trabeculae, microscopic rods of bone material that make up the honeycomb-like network inside bones, contribute to bone’s mechanical strength. In this study, scans compared the trabecular architecture of radial bones (the lateral bones of the forearm) in women with and without previous fracture. Women with previous fractures exhibited significantly decreased trabecular density (lower bone mass) and increased trabecular separation (more and wider spaces between trabecular bones) than those without fractures. The XtremeCT also detected significant differences between osteoporotic and osteopenic bones and between the bones of premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

The expense of high-tech scanners such as the Xtreme CT makes it unlikely that they will be used widely in a clinical setting. However, ASBMR President-Elect Elizabeth Shane notes “these are very exciting data because in recent years researchers in osteoporosis have developed a greater appreciation for the importance of bone quality in understanding fracture risk. The XtremeCT clearly provides information on bone quality that is not available with any other technology. As the focus of research in bone shifts from ways to measure bone mass to ways to measure bone quality, this machine may prove to be the prototype of future less expensive technologies. Therefore, such technologies, once more widely available and affordable, will be able to discriminate better among patients with normal and abnormal bone quality. One important caveat, however, is that this machine does not permit researchers to view actual bone cells to assess another important aspect of bone quality, remodeling activity. Bone biopsies are still necessary for these types of analyses.”

The study discussed in this press release was sponsored by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM, the French National Institute of Medical Research).

To obtain a copy of the scientific abstract, contact Ms. Melissa Haynes (contact information above).

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The ASBMR Annual Meeting is the preeminent international scientific meeting on bone and mineral research. More than 5,300 medical professionals and scientists from around the world are expected to attend the September 23-27, 2005, meeting in Nashville, where more than 1,900 research abstracts will be presented. The ASBMR is the foremost professional, scientific and medical society for the promotion of bone and mineral research and the translation of that research into clinical practice. To learn more, visit the ASBMR website at www.asbmr.org.

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