Assessment of quality of bone in osteoporosis--BIOMED I: fundamental study of relevant bone.

Although osteoporosis is the most common bone disease of the Western world, the diagnosis of osteoporosis or risk for osteoporosis remains problematic despite major advances in technology to measure bone mass in recent years. There is a need to perform more fundamental studies on bone in normal and pathological conditions, in order to progress our knowledge and to detect in time patients at risk for osteoporotic fracture. The BIOMED I project "Assessment of Quality of Bone in Osteoporosis" (PL920296) and 116 other projects were chosen out of a total of 1200 proposals by the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate General XII, Science, Research and Development. The present paper outlines the project proposals. European centers with recognised expertise in assessment of bone, micro-macro-structure, biochemistry, geochemistry and biomechanics will concert their findings on ex vivo bone tissue samples, with the aim to discover a new assessment or combination of assessments for the appreciation of bone quality in vivo. The following modalities for assessment of bone in addition to the established techniques as radiogrammetry, photonabsorptiometry, DEXA, QCT and single photonabsorptiometry, will be incorporated: mechanical testing and fracture mechanics, ultrasound, bone biochemistry, three dimensional imaging, NMR spectroscopy and MRI. Special attention will be given to the standardization of ultrasound velocity and attenuation measurements in a working group bringing together the expertise of 10 centers.