[Image assessment of the treatment effect on osteoporosis: bisphosphonates].

Bisphosphonates are potent antiresorptive agents and are widely used to treat osteoporosis. They reduce the incidence of new fractures by increasing BMD, which partly reflects an increase in the degree of mineralization, and by preventing the deterioration of bone microarchitecture. Iliac crest bone biopsies have shown the improvement of bone architecture after bisphosphonate treatment. Recently, high resolution CT and dual X-ray absorptiometry have also been applied to evaluate the architectural change in bisphosphonate treatment.