R.E.M.S. compared with DXA

Radiofrequency echographic multispectrometry compared with dual X-ray absorptiometry for osteoporosis diagnosis on lumbar spine and femoral neck

Marco Di Paola^1,2, Davide Gatti³, Ombretta Viapiana³, Luisella Cianferotti⁴, Loredana Cavalli⁴, Carla Caffarelli⁵, Francesco Conversano¹, Eugenio Quarta⁶, Paola Pisani¹, Giuseppe Girasole⁷, Andrea Giusti⁷, Monica Manfredini⁸, Giovanni Arioli⁸, Marco Matucci-Cerinic⁹, Gerolamo Bianchi⁷, Ranuccio Nuti⁵, Stefano Gonnelli⁵, Maria Luisa Brandi⁴, Maurizio Muratore⁶, Maurizio Rossini³

Published: Osteoporosis International 2019 Feb;30(2):391-402

Highlight:

The innovative non-ionizing Radiofrequency Echographic Multi-Spectrometry (REMS) technique for osteoporosis diagnosis on lumbar spine and femoral neck was evaluated through a multicenter clinical study involving 1914 caucasian post-menopausal women. They underwent a spinal and/or femoral Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA), according to their medical prescription, and an echographic scan of the same anatomical sites performed with the REMS approach.

All the medical reports (DXA and REMS) were carefully checked to identify possible errors. REMS outcome showed a good agreement with DXA: the average difference in bone mineral density (BMD, bias ± 2 standard deviations) was −0.004 ± 0.088 g/cm² for spine and − 0.006 ± 0.076 g/cm² for femur. Additionally, the linear regression analysis of the T-score resulting from both methods showed that the two methods were highly correlated, being the Pearson correlation coefficient 0.93 and 0.94 for the femur and spine, respectively. REMS precision, expressed as RMS-CV, was 0.38% for spine and 0.32% for femur. The REMS approach can be used for non-ionizing osteoporosis diagnosis directly on lumbar spine and femoral neck with a good level of accuracy and precision.

1 National Research Council, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Lecce, Italy

2 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica (CNR-IFC), Campus Ecotekne (Ed. A7), Lecce, Italy

3 Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

4 Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, Metabolic Bone Diseases Unit, University Hospital of Florence, Italy

5 Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neurosciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

6 O.U. of Rheumatology, Galateo Hospital, San Cesario di Lecce, ASL-LE, Lecce, Italy

7 S.C. Rheumatology, ASL 3 Genovese, Genoa, Italy

8 Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Carlo Poma Hospital, ASST-Mantova, Mantova, Italy

9 Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence & SOD Rheumatology AOUC, Florence, Italy