A study compares multi-detector computed tomography with conventional radiography

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Multi-detector computed tomography looks like the best choice of imaging for assessment of bone healing.
When someone has a bone fracture it is important to monitor the extent of healing so that they can be advised properly on mobilization. It may also be necessary to consider further surgery if the fracture does not heal. Usually, bone healing is evaluated by radiography but, according to doctors at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, there may be a better way.

They looked at multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) using high quality 2D formatting. A group of 43 patients with fractures, joint fusion or spinal fusion had both MDCT and radiography and the results were compared and analyzed by experts. In 27 patients, the two techniques gave similar assessments of bone healing. In the other 16, however, the results were not the same. In eight of these, digital radiographs underestimated the extent of bone healing and in the other eight the degree of bone fusion was overestimated. The accuracy of these assessments is important to orthopedic patients and so the researchers suggest that MDCT may be the imaging technique of choice for monitoring bone healing.

Source
American Roentgen Ray Society 1st August 2006