[Clinical problems of osteoporosis]

In this paper we summarize the main problems connected with the diagnosis of primary osteoporosis, after evidencing the remarkable social importance of the disease, linked to the great increase of aged population; finally the pathogenetic hypotheses more documented are described. From a diagnostic point of view common laboratory investigations are not mostly able to provide sufficient significant informations; recently the dosage of osteocalcin as index of osteoblastic activity and as marker of bone turnover has been suggested. Mainly traditional radiology does not provide sufficient information about the real demineralization rate, while the radiogrammometry can offer sufficiently reliable indications about bone mineral content. Of a greater diagnostic meaning can be considered the bone mineral absorptiometry and in particular the double photonic ray absorptiometry, effected at the level of lumbar spine, that is to say a side earlier affected by the osteoporotic process. With this methodology we are able to obtain precise information about the quantity of the bone mineral content, identifying, at an earlier stage, the patients at risk of osteoporosis.