What is a REMS scan from Echolight?

A progressive reduction of bone strength leads to the condition of osteoporosis. Since osteoporosis shows no symptoms until a fracture occurs, the condition is often not diagnosed until it is firmly established. 

 

Bone strength is primarily dependent on a combination of bone density and bone toughness. Knowledge of these two mechanical aspects of bone can be helpful in understanding whether a person is at risk of developing osteoporosis.

 

Bone "densitometry" refers to the process of testing bone density and bone toughness at key sites. Most commonly these are the lumbar region of the spine and the hip. Less commonly, the wrist or the heel.

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Low bone density and toughness can indicate an increased future fracture risk.  To assess this risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO)-recognised future fracture risk tool called FRAX® can be used to estimate the likelihood of a fragility fracture i.e. a fracture occurring with minimal trauma. This tool combines information about a person’s ethnicity, gender, age, weight and height with relevant information from their medical history to estimate the chance of sustaining a fragility fracture in the upper and lower limbs and spine.  The tool’s ability to determine future fracture risk is enhanced by including bone density information from a DXA scan as well as bone toughness information from the Trabecular Bone Score (TBS), if it has been performed. 

 

In the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the established techniques available for the diagnosis of osteoporosis are:

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DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) and Quantitative CT scanning 

 

Ultrasound  technologies such as REMS (radio frequency echographic multi-spectrometry) and QUS (quantitative ultrasound) are only recognised as screening tools, by the NHS and the Royal Osteoporosis  Society (ROS). They recognise DXA as the “Gold Standard” diagnostic tool to diagnose osteoporosis, provide follow-up information about bone health over time and monitor bone health responses to treatment. Therefore, in the UK, REMS is not yet considered a diagnostic device by the NHS or a suitable technology for monitoring by the ROS. It is however, licenced for use by the MHRA as a screening tool for bone health.