[Broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) in the diagnosis of osteoporosis].

The measurement of broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) of the calcaneus has been introduced as a new technique that provides information about both bone mass and structure without the use of ionizing radiation. BUA measurements of the calcaneus were obtained in 324 patients, 109 of whom had osteoporosis. Two hundred and fifteen patients served as control group. BUA values were compared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements of the lumbar spine, the neck and the heel. The precision error of BUA was 4.1%. The correlation with spinal bone mineral density was r = 0.49, with DXA of the neck r = 0.52 and of the calcaneus r = 0.56, respectively. Patients with osteoporosis showed a significant decrease in BUA compared with healthy subjects (61.4 dB/MHz vs 74.6 dB/MHz). Roc analysis demonstrated that BUA was inferior to DXA of the lumbar spine in detecting osteoporosis.