Abstract
Radiation osteoporosis was assessed with single energy quantitative computed tomography (QCT) on 23 patients with cervical cancer. Eleven cases formed the radiation group, who received irradiation to the lumbar column. The other 12 cases formed the control group and were not irradiated. The absorbed dose to the lumbar column was 45 Gy over 5 weeks in nine cases and 22.5 Gy over 5 weeks in two cases. Bone mineral content (BMC) at the 3rd lumbar vertebra was scanned with QCT. BMC reduction was substantial in the radiation group and not evident in the control group. The mean reduction of the former was 52 mg/cm3 at the end of irradiation. The differences in changes of BMC between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.01). The two cases who received 22.5 Gy revealed similar BMC reduction to those who received 45 Gy. QCT performed at the end of irradiation demonstrated that more than 22.5 Gy over 5 weeks induced substantial osteoporotic changes.
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This paper was presented in part in ECT'91
Correspondence to: K. Nishiyama
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Nishiyama, K., Inaba, F., Higashihara, T. et al. Radiation osteoporosis — an assessment using single energy quantitative computed tomography. Eur. Radiol. 2, 322–325 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00175435
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00175435