Distal Radius in Adolescent Girls with Anorexia Nervosa: Trabecular Structure Analysis with Very High Resolution Flat-Panel Volume CT
 (a) Very high-resolution flat-panel volume CT (fpVCT) scan of the distal radius in a 15-year-old adolescent girl with anorexia nervosa (bone age, 16 years; body mass index [BMI], 19.6 kg/m2) demonstrates rarefaction of trabeculae of the distal radius and ulna. Note the lack of subcutaneous and deep fat. (b) Very high-resolution fpVCT scan of the distal radius in a 16-year-old normal-weight control subject (bone age, 17 years; BMI, 24.2 kg/m2) demonstrates normal mineralization of the distal radius and ulna. An increase was observed in trabeculae compared with trabeculae in subject with anorexia nervosa. (Radiology 2008;249:946–948) © RSNA, 2008. All rights reserved. Printed with permission. |
Bone structure in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa (AN) can be abnormal despite normal bone mineral density, researchers have found. Miriam A. Bredella, M.D., of the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues studied trabecular microarchitecture on flat-panel volume CT (fpVCT) wrist images of 10 girls with mild AN and 10 normal-weight controls. They found that fpVCT demonstrated bone structure deficiencies in the girls with AN, even when bone mineral density on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was normal.
The girls included in the study had mild or early onset AN and did not have extreme weight loss compared to healthy adolescent girls with similar bone mineral density, Bredella and colleagues noted. "Bone mass measurements do not necessarily translate into fracture risk, which is better predicted using measures of bone structure, and it is not known whether bone structural changes precede changes in bone density," the researchers wrote. "Therefore, assessment of trabecular bone architecture is of particular concern when the body is actively accruing bone mass.
"Given the increasing prevalence of AN and its profound consequences on bone health, these results may have major implications on the treatment and follow-up of AN," the researchers concluded.
This study was also presented as a scientific paper at RSNA 2008.
