Bone Microarchitecture in Spinal Cord Injury
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Bone Microarchitecture in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury
IRAS ID
196626
Contact name
Cyrus Cooper
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Osteoporosis is an important public health problem because it causes broken bones, particularly in the spine, wrist and hip. Spinal cord injury is not uncommon. Individuals with a spinal cord injury are at risk of developing 'thinning' of the bones or osteoporosis. If these individuals go on to sustain a fracture, this has a huge personal and economic cost. In addition to the pain of a broken bone, there is evidence that individuals who suffer such a fracture may not be able to return to their homes and may even be at greater risk of death.
We plan to assess bone health using a novel high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT) scan. This is a groundbreaking new scanning method that can perform a ‘virtual bone biopsy’. This allows us to look at bone structure in our participants in greater detail and in a noninvasive way. Previously, this sort of information would only have been obtainable by taking a bone biopsy. The information acquired by the scan includes the bone's geometry and microscopic structure in 3-D.
Individuals who express an interest in participating in the study will be contacted and arrangements will be made for an appointment for the HRpQCT scan. This will be carried out at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Southampton General Hospital. Once eligibility criteria has been checked and informed written consent obtained, the scan will be carried out by a specialist radiographer. We expect the scan to take approximately 20 minutes. Scans will be taken of the forearm (distal radius) and lower leg (distal tibia) on the non-dominant side only. The results will allow us to gain an understanding of how spinal cord injury can affect bone health and thus risk of fracture.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0353
Date of REC Opinion
22 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion