Quantitative Ultrasound--it is time to focus research efforts.

Quantitative Ultrasound (QUS) methods show great potential for refined assessment of bone strength. However, for widespread clinical acceptance, three issues have to be resolved: Will patients with low QUS readings benefit from approved osteoporosis medications? How can we ensure good quality of QUS measurements in daily clinical practice? How much added value does QUS bring to risk factor based case-finding strategies? When addressing these issues, differences among QUS approaches need to be recognized and vague and misleading terminology, e.g., regarding bone quality assessment, needs to be avoided. Innovations including assessment of material or micro-structural properties and direct QUS measurements at the proximal femur are likely to spark additional interest in pursuing QUS research.