01. Cancer - Contact Details

Highlights

Characterisation of bone microstructure in untreated and treated osteoporosis

With worldwide annual hip fracture rates predicted to exceed six million by 2050, the need to identify and intervene effectively in those at risk of hip fracture is of profound scientific, social and economic importance. The distribution of cortical bone in the proximal femur is believed to be the key determinant of fracture resistance and we have made rapid advances in the development of a novel imaging biomarker of hip fragility that has the potential to revolutionise hip fracture prediction and has already identified for the first time the precisely targeted response of osteoporotic hips to bone-building treatments.

The 2009 patented technique effectively de-blurs in-vivo CT data from clinical scans, enabling assessment of regional thinning by means of a colour map of cortical thickness. Our recent studies have shown that the effects on cortical bone of the bone building drug teriparatide (parathyroid hormone peptide 1-34) are targeted to sites of mechanical loading. The practical healthcare implication of this finding is that bone-active drugs may need to be administered alongside targeted exercise to maximise bone strength.

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