Abstract: Objective To evaluate whether quantitative ultrasound (QUS) can determine the bone status and differentiate bone turnover type in dialysis patients. Methods We recruited 42 dialysis patients and 119 healthy volunteers as the study objects and attributed the dialysis patients into high serum parathyroid hormone(PTH) group and low PTH group according to the mean PTH value in the last year. They accepted QUS and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) examinations. QUS parameters included calcaneus bone mineral density (BMD), T value, speed of sound (SOS) and broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA). DXA parameters included BMD and T value of hip and lumbar spine. Results There were moderate correlations between calcaneus BMD by QUS and hip and lumbar spine BMD by DXA in study objects (r=0.461, P<0.001 and r=0.438, P<0.001, respectively) and in high PTH group (r=0.714, P=0.002 and r=0.616, P=0.011, respectively), but not in low PTH group. SOS and BUA by QUS were significantly lower in high PTH group than in low PTH group[ (1521.345±24.004) m/s vs. (1539.168±26.267) m/s, t=-2.270, P=0.029 for SOS and (70.582±12.504) dB/MHz vs. (82.511±12.276) dB/MHz, t=-3.072, P=0.004 for BUA]. The parameters measured by DXA had no differences between the two groups. Conclusions Calcaneus QUS examination may be a useful technique for bone assessment, and more importantly QUS may be helpful to differentiate high turnover bone disease from low turnover bone disease in dialysis patients.

Key words: Quantitative ultrasound, Bone turnover, High turnover bone disease, Low turnover bone disease