Exploring µFRAC and the relevance of skeletal sites

Project Description

Can we predict fragility fractures using only one skeletal site instead of two…

The fracture prediction tool called µFRAC was designed to take HR-pQCT data of the radius and tibia combined with finite element analysis and femoral neck DXA (with some clinical factors) and estimate 5-year and 10-year fracture risk of MOF and AOF. Do we really need to include both the radius and tibia? The tibia is representative of a weight-bearing bone and is highly correlated to the bone strength at the spine and hip, whereas the radius seems to capture features of aging such as deteriorated architecture (e.g., void spaces). It is not clear whether a simpler version of µFRAC would perform as well, but if it did that would make its use more versatile. This study would explore µFRAC based on tibia alone, radius alone, and perhaps even bi-lateral tibia and/or bi-lateral radius scans. This study builds on the establishment of µFRAC as an alternative to FRAX+DXA for fragility fracture screening or provide a strong complementary option for when FRAX+DXA is provides a somewhat ambiguous clinicial treatment decisions basis.

Scope

• PhD/MSc project

Data Source

• various

Resources

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37132542