Use of skeletal surveys in the radiological assessment of renal osteodystrophy--a study in the Singapore General Hospital
Tan, R.K.
Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore 22(5): 714-719
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0304-4602 PMID: 8267351 Document Number: 417678
The aims of this review on the use of skeletal surveys in the radiological assessment of renal osteodystrophy were threefold: to describe the radiological pattern of renal osteodystrophy in a local cohort of patients with chronic renal failure, to assess whether serial radiographs of the hands may effectively replace full radiological skeletal surveys in the long-term follow-up assessment of renal bone disease, and to formulate a grading system for bone resorption due to hyperparathyroidism. A radiological study of 61 patients with chronic renal failure revealed 20 (32.8%) patients with unequivocal radiological signs of renal osteodystrophy. The main abnormal radiological features observed in descending order of frequency were: osteopenia with associated cortical thinning and coarsened bone trabecular pattern (75%), subperiosteal resorption (60%), osteosclerosis (50%), extraosseous calcification (30%) and periosteal new bone formation (15%). A five-grade method of assessing the severity and extent of bone resorption was formulated. The study showed that 40% of the patients with a radiological diagnosis of renal osteodystrophy did not show changes in the hand radiographs. This finding precluded a recommendation of hand radiographs being used alone in the long-term radiological follow-up of patients with renal bone disease. An alternative was proposed and this was a limited radiological skeletal survey of three projections: radiographs of both hands, chest including the clavicles and the pelvis. This limited study would result in a cost saving of 62% as compared to a full study.