Hand radiographs as a potential replacement for DXA in osteopenia screening

At the European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) conference held in Sevilla in June 2024, Karen Rosendahl of Tromsø (awarded the ESPR 2024 Gold Medal) gave a talk titled “Revisiting Osteopenia.”

In her presentation, she pointed out the distinction between osteopenia, the qualitative radiological finding of cortical thinning and loss of trabeculae, and osteoporosis defined by a significant, low-energy fracture history, supported by a DXA BMD Z-score.

Rosendahl reported a fair to moderate agreement between BHI SDS and DXA Z-score in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and concluded that a hand radiograph might replace DXA as a screening tool for osteopenia in this group.