Demineralising osteopathies: new aspects of diagnostic imaging

The wide use of multimodal radiologic analysis of bone tissue has led to a new concept of the term osteopenia towards grouping the various osteopathies as demineralizing osteopathies. With bone densitometry measurements both high precision and accuracy can be achieved, whereas conventional radiographs provide insights into the architecture of the bone to better advantage. By using both modalities discrepancies of the radiological reports with the final diagnosis may be avoided. Despite ongoing success in techniques of semi-automated data analysis and reporting the radiological and the clinical assessment of bone diseases are still an indispensable part of establishing the diagnosis.