A 246-km continuous running race causes significant changes in bone metabolism.

Background: Regular physical exercise exerts a favorable effect on the skeleton. However, excessive physical exercise may have detrimental effects. A low bone mineral density (BMD) has been registered in highly trained runners.

Zoledronic acid prevents cancer treatment-induced bone loss in premenopausal women receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy for hormone-responsive breast cancer: a report from the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group.

Purpose: Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer can be associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) that may lead to skeletal morbidity. This study examined whether zoledronic acid can prevent bone loss associated with adjuvant endocrine therapy in premenopausal patients.

Patients And Methods: This study is a randomized, open-label, phase III, four-arm trial comparing tamoxifen (20 mg/d orally) and goserelin (3.

[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.

Limited diagnostic agreement of quantitative sonography of the radius and phalanges with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry of the spine, femur, and radius for diagnosis of osteoporosis.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic agreement of quantitative sonography of the radius and proximal phalanx and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the radius, lumbar spine, and femoral neck for the detection of osteoporosis.

Materials And Methods: In 95 women (mean age, 53 +/- 13 years) and 26 men (mean age, 53 +/- 13 years), DXA measurements of the lumbar spine (posterior-anterior, L1-L4) and the femoral neck, as well as quantitative sonography of the radius and proximal phalanx of the third finger were obtained. The percentage of patients below a given threshold was calculated for each imaging technique.

Comparative assessment of bone mineral measurements obtained by use of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, peripheral quantitative computed tomography, and chemical-physical analyses in femurs of juvenile and adult dogs.

Objective: To compare bone mineral measurements obtained by use of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), and chemical-physical analyses and determine effects of age and femur size on values obtained for the various techniques.

Sample Population: Femurs obtained from 15 juvenile and 15 adult large-breed dogs.

Procedure: n each femur, 7 regions of interest were examined by use of DEXA to measure the bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD), and 5 were examined by use of pQCT to measure BMD.

Chondrosarcoma of the hand: is a wide surgical resection necessary?

Chondrosarcomas of the hand are rare and generally treated with surgical resection. Thirteen patients with Grade 1 chondrosarcoma of the small bones of the hand were followed up for a mean of 99.8 months (range, 26-293 months).

Automated vessel edge detection in velocity-encoded cine-MR (VEC-MR) flow measurements: a retrospective evaluation in critically ill patients.

Objective: To assess feasibility of automated edge detection in magnetic resonance (MR) flow calculations in a clinical setting with critically ill patients.

Material And Methods: Velocity encoded cine-MR (VEC-MR) flow measurements cross-sectional area (CSA), mean spatial velocity (MSV), instantaneous flow (IF), flow (F), 0.5 T Philips, TR 800-800, TE=8 ms, 30 degrees flip angle, FOV 280 mm, 128 x 256 matrix, temporal resolution 16 time frames/RR, VENC=120 cm/s) were obtained in 20 major thoracic human vessels (ascending aorta, main, right and left pulmonary artery-AAO, MPA, RPA, LPA) of five patients, suffering from severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

'The Closer'-percutaneous vascular suture device: evaluation of safety and performance in neuroangiography.

Objective: To evaluate the use of the suture mediated vascular closure device concerning practicability and safety in clinical angiography practice.

Material And Methods: One hundred and seventeen patients (59 female, 58 male, mean age 40.9+/-13.

Quantification and clinical relevance of head motion during computed tomography.

Objective: To quantify the 3-dimensional translation and rotation components of head motion during computed tomography and to analyze the influence of such motion on perceptible artifacts and distortion of volume image data sets.

Methods: Using high-precision optoelectronic motion-capture technology, changes in patient head position during axial CT scanning were registered in 20 cases and 2 phantoms with a spatial relative resolution better than 0.003 cm.

Pathogenesis of bone loss in heart transplant candidates and recipients.

Background: Heart transplantation (HTX) is associated with decreased bone mineral density and changes in bone metabolism. We conducted this study to evaluate the pathophysiology of bone metabolism in HTX candidates and recipients.

Methods: Thirty-six HTX recipients were compared with 36 HTX candidates concerning biochemical parameters of bone metabolism and bone mineral density.

Bone homogeneity factor: an advanced tool for the assessment of osteoporotic bone structure in high-resolution magnetic resonance images.

Rationale And Objectives: Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mass and inferior structural competence. In this study we introduce the bone homogeneity factor (BHF) as a quantitative measurement of bone structure, which could be equally important as bone mineral density.

Methods: BHF represents an advanced texture analysis tool based on the spatial autocorrelation function calculated in 9 different directions.

Suspected pulmonary embolism: enhancement of pulmonary arteries at deep-inspiration CT angiography--influence of patent foramen ovale and atrial-septal defect.

Purpose: To investigate if abnormal early contrast enhancement of the aorta and decreased attenuation of pulmonary arteries at deep-inspiration spiral computed tomographic (CT) angiography might be caused by a patent foramen ovale (PFO).

Materials And Methods: Two hundred forty-four spiral CT angiographic images of the pulmonary arteries obtained during deep inspiration in patients suspected of having pulmonary embolism (PE) were reviewed for evidence of abnormal early enhancement of the aorta. In 45 patients, enhancement of the ascending aorta was equal to or more than that of the pulmonary arteries.

Ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and reactive arthritis show increased bone resorption, but differ with regard to bone formation.

Objective: To test if markers of bone metabolism are altered in patients with seronegative spondyloarthropathies (SSpA).

Methods: We studied biochemical markers of bone resorption and bone formation, osteoprotegerin (OPG), and bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and reactive arthritis (ReA) and healthy volunteers.

Results: The bone resorption markers urinary deoxypyridinoline and crosslinked telopeptide of collagen-I were significantly increased in patients with AS, PsA, and ReA; in PsA they correlated with the acute phase response (C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate).

Elimination of errors caused by first-order aliasing in velocity encoded cine-MR measurements of postoperative jets after aortic coarctation: in vitro and in vivo validation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate a velocity-encoded cine-MR (VEC-MR) sequence in measuring flow velocities up to two times the velocity encoding value (VENC) in a flow phantom and to validate the method for assessing poststenotic jet velocities in postoperative patients after aortic coarctation. In vitro, a flow phantom was used (0.5T; TR/TE: 51/8 ms, flip angle=30 degrees, FOV=280 mm, 128x256 matrix VENC 40 or 80 cm/s).