Opportunistic assessment of bone mineral density using computed tomography in pediatric liver transplant recipients
Küçük Resim Yok
Tarih
2026
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
Springer
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Özet
Pediatric liver transplant (LT) recipients are at increased risk of impaired bone mineral accrual due to chronic liver disease, growth disturbances, and post-transplant metabolic factors. Although dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) remains the reference method for evaluating bone mineral density (BMD), opportunistic assessment using routine abdominal computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a potential adjunct tool. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of using routine abdominal CT scans to assess bone health in pediatric LT recipients by comparing lumbar vertebral Hounsfield unit (HU) values with those obtained using DXA. This retrospective study included 62 pediatric LT recipients who underwent both abdominal CT and lumbar spine DXA within a 3-month period. HU values were measured at vertebral levels L1-L4 in both the sagittal and axial planes. DXA z-scores were classified according to International Society for Clinical Densitometry pediatric guidelines. Correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine the diagnostic performance of HU values. Patients with low bone mineral density had significantly lower sagittal HU values (p < 0.05). Moderate correlation was found between sagittal mean HU and DXA z-scores (r = 0.429, p = 0.003), whereas weaker correlation was observed for axial HU values (r = 0.266, p = 0.037). ROC analysis demonstrated a moderate discriminative ability for sagittal HU (AUC = 0.713, p = 0.016), with an optimal cut-off value of 188 HU yielding 83% sensitivity and 68% specificity.
Açıklama
Anahtar Kelimeler
Bone health, Pediatric liver transplantation, Computed tomography, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, Hounsfield unit
Kaynak
European Journal of Pediatrics
WoS Q Değeri
Q1
Scopus Q Değeri
Q1
Cilt
185
Sayı
3
