Good overall agreement found between morphometry and semi-quantitative grading of vertebral fractures

Kim YM. Osteoporos Int. doi: 10.1007/s00198-011-1774-z

Researches from Boston have found good to excellent agreement between semi-automated quantitative morphometry measurements and the conventional semi-quantitative grading used by radiologists to identify vertebral fractures.

“Semi-automated quantitative vertebral morphometry measurements may enhance management of osteoporosis patients by providing an efficient means to identify vertebral fractures,” the authors wrote in the abstract.

Researchers assigned a non-radiologist to perform semi-automated quantitative vertebral morphometry from CT lateral scout views in 200 patients from the Framingham Heart Study Multidetector CT Study. Based on Genant’s criteria for deformities, vertebral fractues were classified in the quantitative vertebral morphometry approach and compared with conventional semi-quantitative grading performed by experienced radiologists.

The study, which analyzed 2,588 vertebra, reported overall agreement between the two methods with the percentage of agreement ranging from 86.7% to 91.2%. Among vertebrae analyzed, 107 had mild and 49 had moderate or severe vertebral fractures by visual semi-quantitative grading. Per-vertebra analyses revealed good agreement. Researchers found that agreement between the methods was the highest in L1-L4 region.

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