Needle in your shin to predict if you’ll get brittle bones
AHAnD- HELD probe gently pushed against the shin could predict who is at risk of the brittle bone condition oste - oporosis before they even get the disease. The gadget may also help slash the risk of someone suffering a break.
The device works by measuring how much ‘give’ there is in the surface of the shin (or tibia). This helps doctors calculate how dense the body’s bones are and whether there is a risk of fracture.
The probe, which has a tiny needle on the tip, is pushed into the shin bone after a local anaesthetic has been applied.
It has to penetrate only a fraction of a millimetre to work out if bones are strong and healthy. For example, bone density is normal if the needle stops at a depth of 20 micrometres — or just 0.02 of a millimetre. That’s less than half the width of a human hair.
But if it sinks to around 40 micrometres — or 0.04mm — it could suggest a significant risk of fracture. This is because bone is made from a honeycomb or lattice structure. When the bones start to weaken, as they do in osteoporosis, the holes in the ‘honeycomb’ become enlarged. This makes the bone become less dense, and the needle is able to penetrate deeper.
The testing process takes only a few seconds and although it does pierce the skin, researchers say it’s no more than a pin prick. They use the shin bone, as it is easily accessible and one of the largest bones in the body.
OSTEOPOROSIS affects an estimated three million people in the UK. The condition makes fractures from falls more likely — these are the leading cause of disability and loss of independence among the over-65s, and are thought to cost the nHS around £2 billion a year.
Doctors rely on dual- energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DXA scans, to estimate bone density, or another type of CT image, called multi-detector computed tomography. But both methods simply give an average of bone thickness, rather than a detailed picture of the strength of its internal honeycomb structure.
The experimental probe, which has been developed by U.S. firm Active Life Scientific, can give doctors an instant indication of bone strength. If the bones are shown to be weak, then a patient can be referred for a scan.
Researchers at Southampton University have been taking bone scraps left over from hip replacement surgery and carrying out laboratory tests usi ng t he new technique — called micro-- indentation — to see if it accurately depicts bone strength. The results suggest the differences in the amount of give on a bone’s surface identify those most at risk.
The scientists say if used alongside existing methods, it could help prevent fractures. They now plan to use the hand-held probe in a clinical trial involving dozens of patients to see if they are at risk of a fracture. If successful, it could be available for use within a few years. Claire Bowring, medical policy
manager at the national osteoporosis Society, said: ‘This new study is certainly interesting. Current bone density scanning techniques are not a perfect measure of bone strength and do not show the quality of bone.
‘new techniques such as this, which look at further measures of bone fragility, are very important in developing our understanding of osteoporosis and bone health and in helping to reduce the number of fractures.’
MEAnWHILE, scientists are ‘freezing’ ankles to help strains and sprains recover more quickly.
French researchers are rapidly cooling the skin around the ankle to just 2c in seconds, using a type of wrap that i s cooled with compressed carbon dioxide gas.
The team, from Interne des Hopitaux des Armees, says this drastic cooling will rapidly reduce inflammation — which can otherwise lead to long-term swelling and tissue damage. In a new trial, 100 people with sprained ankles will use the new treatment twice a day, while 100 will use conventional ice packs.