PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Erdal Gilgil
AU  - Cahit Kaçar
AU  - Tiraje Tuncer
AU  - Bülent Bütün
TI  - The association of syndesmophytes with vertebral bone mineral density in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
DP  - 2005 Feb 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 292--294
VI  - 32
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/32/2/292.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/32/2/292.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2005 Feb 01; 32
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine bone mineral density (BMD) using the posteroanterior L2-L4 (PA) and lateral L3 (LAT-L3) projections of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and to evaluate the relationship between BMD and the presence of syndesmophytes. METHODS: Twenty men with AS were studied. BMD was measured by femoral neck DEXA, PA DEXA, and LAT-L3 DEXA scans. Radiographs of lumbar spine were evaluated to obtain a lumbar spine score (LSS) for the presence of syndesmophytes. Twenty-three age matched healthy men served as controls. RESULTS: While there was no significant difference in BMD from PA DEXA results between AS patients and controls, BMD from the LAT-L3 DEXA was significantly reduced in AS patients (p = 0.009). LSS correlated significantly with BMD from PA DEXA (r = 0.55, p = 0.013), but not with BMD of LAT-L3 DEXA. CONCLUSION: LAT-L3 DEXA was superior to PA DEXA in detecting a decrease of BMD in patients with AS. The presence of syndesmophytes had no distorting effect on BMD measured by LAT-L3 DEXA.