Preliminary result on trabecular bone score (TBS) in lumbar vertebrae with experimentally altered microarchitecture

The aim of this preliminary research is to investigate the reliability of a new qualitative parameter, called Trabecular Bone Score (TBS), recently proposed for evaluating the microarchitectural arrangement of cancellous bone in scans carried out by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Vertebral bodies of 15 fresh samples of lumbar spines of adult pig were analysed either in basal conditions and with altered microarchitecture of the cancellous bone obtained by progressive drilling. The examined bony areas do not show changes in bone mineral density (BMD), whereas TBS values decrease with the increasing alteration of the vertebral microtrabecular structure. Our preliminary data seem to confirm the reliability of TBS as a qualitative parameter useful for evaluating the microarchitectural strength in bony areas quantitatively analysed by DXA.