Technology Assessment In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
TEC on screening for vertebral fracture: Data are lacking on the benefit of dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) screening for vertebral fracture in patients who do not meet bone mineral density (BMD) thresholds for medical treatment of osteoporosis, finds BlueCross BlueShield's Technology Evaluation Center in a February assessment. The report also notes that "the threshold for treatment may currently be in flux and it is unknown whether vertebral fracture assessment using DXA would yield a population of patients that would not otherwise have been treated based on BMD alone." Hologic, GE Healthcare/Lunar and CooperSurgical/Norland market DXA systems, which also are used to test BMD. Additional software is required to perform vertebral fracture assessments on the devices...