Bone mineral density--clinical use and application.

Clinical application of bone densitometry has led to increased patient awareness of this increasingly prevalent disease. With bone densitometry, it is possible for clinicians to diagnose osteoporosis before the first fracture has occurred; predict risk for fracture in men, postmenopausal women, and in patients receiving glucocorticoids; and can be used as a surrogate marker to follow the efficacy of therapies and to examine those patients who might be osteoporosis-specific therapeutic non-responders.