Les outils d'investigation du système squelettique: Informations quantitatives et qualitatives,intérêt dans le suivi des sportifs

When investigating physical activity and bone health, there is a surge of interest in the various imaging techniques as bone strength is influenced by the type of bone present, its size and shape, as well as the amount of mineral.Bone has many interesting attributes that need to be measured in order to preserve or reestablish its functions. Consequently, to study bone, investigators need to measure its complex properties. Bone anatomy and caracteristics can be studied using different forms of imaging, such as dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), quantitative ultrasound (QUS), quantitative computerized tomography (QCT) and peripheral QCT (pQCT).DXA is the most common measure of bone mineral content (BMC, g) and Bone Mineral Density (BMD, g/cm²). The modality of QUS is said to reflect bone microarchitecture. QCT measures apparent volumetric density of trabecular or cortical bone, and QCTp permits evaluation of the peripheral squeleton.Eventually, bone biochemical markers provide information about bone metabolism.Imaging plays an important clinical role, for example, in predicting fracture risk. Bone measurements related to fracture risk include bone mineral content and density, cortical thickness, trabecular structure and its external geometry.