One thousand women in Europe at very high risk of contracting osteoporosis have now been identified as a result of the Sectra OneScreen online service. Women who can now drastically reduce the risk of painful fractures because inexpensive and effective treatment of the disease is available. Increasing numbers of mammography clinics throughout Europe are using this service to screen for osteoporosis. An initiative that enhances women's quality of life, reduces unnecessary suffering and enables major savings in healthcare by reducing the number of fractures caused by osteoporosis.

"Regular mammography examinations are natural for most women. Now there is an effective method that enables the early identification of osteoporosis at the same time using bone-density measurements. This may mean that many women will avoid unnecessary suffering," says Torbjörn Kronander, President of Sectra's medical operation.

Osteoporosis is an underdiagnosed disease and there is great need for simple, cost-effective methods of identifying patients in need of treatment. With Sectra's method, an x-ray of the hand provides the basis for an osteoporosis diagnosis. The image is taken at the same time as the breast images during the mammogram and using the same digital radiology equipment. The extra examination takes less than 30 seconds. An Internet connection and a digital radiology equipment are required for using this service.

About Sectra's online service

Osteoporosis can be identified by measuring bone density. Sectra's analysis of bone density is conducted using Sectra's patented technology, Digital X-ray Radiogrammetry (DXR). With the help of this technology, women in the osteoporosis risk group can be identified and offered further examination and treatment. Sectra's online service is ideal for use in identifying and prioritizing those women who should be examined using DXA measurement, a technique for analyzing bone mass that is more expensive and considerably more time-consuming than DXR.

Sectra's online service for the analysis of osteoporosis is currently used in the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Norway and Sweden.

Facts about osteoporosis [1]

Some 200 million people are estimated to suffer from osteoporosis.
Nine million osteoporosis-related fractures, primarily radio carpal, hip and vertebra fractures, occurs annually.
The disease is caused by an imbalance in the remodeling of the skeleton, which in turn can be caused, for example, by an unhealthy lifestyle, genetic factors or drugs used to treat other diseases.
Affects one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50.
One of the diseases causing the highest economic burden for healthcare.

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One thousand women in Europe at very high risk of contracting osteoporosis have now been identified as a result of the Sectra OneScreen online service. Wo...