Unlocking Osteoporosis Diagnosis: Unveiling the Potential of MRI-Based Vertebral Bone Quality Score

MRI-based VBQ score is a simple, easy-to-calculate tool and does not require exposure to ionizing radiation to analyze bone quality. VBQ scores potentially overcome the shortcomings of DEXA for diagnosing osteoporosis, especially in older patients with more degenerative changes, where setting DEXA may give spurious results. VBQ score may be used as a supplementary tool along with DEXA. However, MRI is an expensive investigation, and its utility as a diagnostic tool for osteoporosis in the absence of other indications, such as degenerative disc disease, may not be justified. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to formulate a VBQ score threshold cut-off value for osteoporosis diagnosis.