Aim. We assessed the bone mineral density and related parameters in nine adults, thirty-eight pubertal, prepubertal totally forty-seven patients with thalassemia major living in Antalya, Turkey. Materials and Methods. We measured height and pubertal staging in last five years by six-month intervals. Average ferritin and hemoglobin concentrations were calculated for last three years. The levels of hydroxyproline, calcium, phosphorus, and creatinine were measured in 24 h urine, and those of parathormone, IGF 1, osteocalcine, alkaline phosphatase, calcium, ionized calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, creatine, blood glucose, thyroid stimulating hormone, alanine transaminase, and aspartate transaminase were determined in serum, and also the bone mineral density was measured. Results. The average L1–L4 bone mass density was 27.1 ± 10.1 g cm−2; the average bone mineral content was 0.65  ±  0.11 g. of the patients with a Z-score under 2.5. A moderate relationship was found between the bone mass density age and height. Subjects in low pubertal staging and short stature (<3% percentile) have significantly lower bone mass densities P < 0.001. Conclusion. he prevalence of osteoporosis is high in patients with thalassemia major, possibly related to delayed puberty.

The aim of this study is to determine the sacroiliac index (SII) of healthy subjects and to compare these values with patients having sacroiliitis (SI). Quantitative sacroiliac scintigraphy (QSS) was performed with Tc-99m hydroxy methylene diphosphonate (HMDP) and whole sacroiliac joint-to-sacrum ratio was calculated as a SII by the region of interest (ROI) method. Forty-seven nonarthritic healthy subjects and 13 patients with SI were studied. Effects of aging, gender and laterality on SII were evaluated in 47 healthy subjects. The sacroiliac index was higher in men than women (p < 0.05). SII did not change significantly in aged men, but it decreased significantly in aged women (p < 0.05). Eleven of 13 patients with SI had a higher SII than healthy subjects (> mean + 2SD). In the other two cases by using small ROIs, SIIs were found to be higher than the normal range. Our results suggest that QSS is a sensitive method for the diagnosis of early stage SI and every institution should establish its own normal SII.

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to investigate the agreement between early phase of bone scintigraphy – human immunoglobulin scintigraphy (EPBS-HIG) and late phase bone scintigraphy – HIG (LPBS-HIG) in the determination of the presence and also the severity of inflammatory arthritis. Material and Methods: Twenty-eight patients (23 female, 5 male; between 19 to 80 years of age) with inflammatory arthritis were included in the study. Tc-99m HIG and blood pool/late phase bone scintigraphies were performed in all patients. In scintigraphic examinations, the joints were scored with the degree of accumulation of the radiopharmaceutical by the semiquantitative analysis (0=Background activity, 1=Faint uptake, 2=Moderate uptake, 3=Marked uptake) which is called as visually active joint score as severity index of the disease. To estimate the agreement between EPBS – HIG and LPBS - HIG in the determination of the presence and severity of inflammatory arthritis, 2x2 kappa coefficients were calculated. Results: Our results showed good agreement between EPBS - HIG for the presence of inflammation (kappa: 0.72) but not for the severity of the disease (kappa: 0.29), poor agreement between LPBS - HIG for both the presence (kappa: 0.51) and severity (kappa: 0.01) of inflammatory arthritis. Conclusion: The blood pool scintigraphy could be used in the investigation of the presence of inflammatory arthritis because the good agreement with HIG and the lower cost but not for the severity of the diseaseConflict of interest:None declared.

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