In conventional QCT, 4 vertebral bodies are normally measured, but only 2 are measured for 3D QCT. Does this compromise clinical accuracy?
No, if it is assumed that clinical accuracy is limited by BMD measurement precision. Published studies have consistently reported better measurement precision for 3D QCT spine BMD measurements relative to 2D QCT spine BMD measurements. The quality of these types of measurements are influenced by factors such as accuracy of the localizer, patient motion between localizer and CT scan, errors introduced by image streaks and noise, and x-ray beam hardening. Generally 3D QCT fairs better with these issues than does 2D QCT because of reduced patient setup and scan times, relative insensitivity to exact axial slice locations, smaller slice thickness, and retrospective determination of the bone volume to be analyzed associated with 3D QCT analyses.
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