UNM Children's Hospital
~ Physician to Physician ~
The Carrie Tingley Pediatric Bone Health Center
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To define and treat issues of pediatric osteoporosis, Children's Miracle Network in 2003 provided a grant to purchase a bone density (DXA) machine for Carrie Tingley Hospital that would be dedicated to children. Debra Harriman, already an experienced DXA and ultrasound technician, traveled to Wilmington, Delaware so that CTH could become one of only about 8 centers in the United States to provide the lateral distal femoral DXA scan (LDF), specifically designed for special needs children who, due to contractures of hip, scoliosis, or orthopaedic or spinal implant, could not be studied using standard DXA technology.
Elizabeth Szalay, MD, pediatric orthopaedic surgeon, is certified as a clinical densitometrist by the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, and personally interprets all DXA scans at the Center. The Center now performs some 1000 DXA scans yearly on children, for both clinical and research indications, in collaboration with our colleagues in pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology, oncology, gastroenterology, transplant services, nephrology, and other services.
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| The pediatric forearm fracture rate doubled from 1970 to 2000: at CTH we are trying to learn why! |
Children whose bone densities are assessed at a pediatric bone density center are more likely to have an accurate diagnosis: a study from NIH suggested that adult DXA facilities over diagnosed "osteoporosis" in children, and that studies were interpreted inaccurately in as many as 62%.
When children are identified with low bone density for age or, osteoporosis (if they have suffered an "insufficiency fracture"--a fracture that occurs with little or no trauma), treatment plans are individualized by Dr. Szalay, Dr. Susan Root, and other pediatric associates.
The Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation funds student research scholarships as well as individual research grants. Since 2003, 6 research studies from the Center have been published in major peer-reviewed journals. Numerous current projects are underway, including a prospective randomized clinical trial funded by the Thrasher Foundation to assess pamidronate in preventing post-operative bone loss in children at risk, bone density in neuromuscular scoliosis, Vitamin D levels in healthy children and those with vague musculoskeletal pain, and results of bisphosphonate, calcium, and Vitamin D in children with low bone density.