Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 133-140. (Budapest, 1991-1992)
KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK — STUDIES AND LECTURES - Raptis, George: Paleopathological Investigation of Osteoporosis with Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry
conditions. In addition, bone trace-element analysis [12, 21, 19] was used for (a) dietary evaluation so as to control for nutritional effects on bone mineral density, (b) detection of adverse diagenetic changes due to soil exposure, and (c) an independent determination of bone calcium content. MATERIALS AND METHODS A Norland XR26 Mk 2 scanner was used to determine the bone mineral density of an intact skeleton dated in the post-classical or hellenisitic Athens. The age at death, sex, and type of physical activity of the deceased person were not of importance to the primary goal of this investigation and were not made known to the operators of the apparatus prior to scanning of the preselected parts, e.g. (a) 1 square centimeter in the middle of the neck of right femur, (b) the lateral and (c) ventrodorsal aspect of fourth lumbar vertebra, and (d) 1 square cm of the midshaft of the femur. The hip and lumbar spine are the parts measured in living persons because they are mostly prone to fracture (lateral lumbar scans are superior to ventrodorsal since there is no overlap of the vertebral body and appendices). The midshaft of the femur was included as a reference area. All measurements were performed according to the standardized protocol, integrated in the software of the IBM PS/2 Computer, provided by the manufacturer (see Operator's Manual for further details). No immersion into water is needed with this method and the bones are not subject to any risk of damage. The femur was placed on the examination table with the neck or midshaft axis parallel to the surface, while the vertebrae weight-bearing axis was also positioned horizontally. Two operators determined separately the mineral content of each site six times with repositioning of the bone between measurements and six times without (sequentially). A total of twenty-four measurements at each site was performed. The sequential determinations were introduced in order to obtain a control for operator-induced variation [10]. Chemical analysis of the selected parts was performed with a Perkin-Elmer Atomic Absorption Spectrometer model 360 fitted with a HGA 72 graphite furnace and a model 303 air-acetylene flame apparatus of the same company. Two hundred to 500 mg of cortical bone from the above-mentioned sites was dried to constant weight, ashed at 400 °C, and diluted with concetrated nitric acid according to standard procedures [55]. Special care was given not to damage bones excessively and microscopic examination revealed no postmortem bacterial lesions [22]. Analysis included Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), Zinc (Zn), Mangenese (Mn) and Lead (Pb), with recovery rates ranging from 91% to 105%. Statistical analysis was performed by conventional, suitable methods. RESULTS Bone mineral density (BMD) is given in mg per square centimeter. The data presented are the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and (number of measurements). BMD of neck of right femur: overall = -- 722, 28, 3.9% (24) 1st Operator (repositioning) = = 720, 31,4.3% (6) (sequentially) = = 724, 7, 1.0% (6) 2nd Operator (repositioning) = = 723, 25, 3.5% (6) (sequentially) = 721, 11, 1.5% (6)
