Monitoring Response to Osteoporosis Therapy with Alendronate by a Multisite Ultrasound Device

Background: Osteoporotic fractures are a major health problem among postmenopausal women. A significant proportion of subjects with low bone density are currently undiagnosed. Peripheral devices can be used for osteoporosis diagnosis, but their role in long-term monitoring of skeletal changes is unclear. The current study evaluated the ability of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements to follow osteoporotic subjects treated with alendronate. Methods: QUS measurements were done with Sunlight OmnisenseTM (Omnisense, Sunlight Medical Ltd., Tel Aviv, Israel), which determines the bone speed of sound (SOS) in several skeletal sites. Postmenopausal women with T-scores of – 2 or less at one site were recruited and treated with alendronate for at least 1 yr. Follow-up was done with QUS and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Lunar DPX scanner, Madison, WI, USA) measurements. Results: After 12 mo, bone mineral density (BMD) increased significantly at the lumbar spine (LS) (0.34 ± 0.08 T-score, p = 0.0001 with 95% CI [0.19, 0.49]) and QUS at the tibia (TIB) (0.21 ± 0.09 T-score, p = 0.02 with 95% CI [0.03, 0.39]). After 12 mo, a significant increase in mean T-scores was demonstrated in all sites assessed according to baseline T-score of –2 or less. Conclusions: Peripheral QUS measurement may be considered for follow-up on skeletal changes in response to alendronate treatment.