The calcaneus bone mineral density values (BMDs) of healthy Japanese women peaked at 20 to 25 years of age with 435 ± 66 mg/cmz (mean± S.D. ), decreased 0.51% on the average every year thereafter until 45 years of age, 1.72% between 45 and 55 years (menopause) and 0.55% thereafter. The vertebrae bone mineral density value peaked at 30 to 35 years of age with 1.06±0.13 g/cmz (mean ± s.D. ), decreased 0.67% on the average every year thereafter until 45 years of age, 1.23% between 45 and 55 years (menopause) and 0.70% thereafter. Mean -2.0 s.D. of the peak bone mass was considered appropriate as the fracture threshold for both the calcaneus and vertebra, judging from the BMDs of osteoporosis patients.bone mineral density; fracture threshold; osteoporosis; single energy x-ray absorptiometry; dual energy x-ray absorptiometry Osteoporosis is a serious disease that occurs frequently among women of advanced age. Since osteoporosis is a disorder characterized by skeletal fragility due to a quantitative loss of bone mineral or architectural changes that diminish the strength of bone, accurate measurement of the bone mineral density values (BMDs) is necessary for diagnosis and prevention. However, there is no established theory as to when the danger of osteoporosis arises at what degree of decrease in the BMDs. For the purpose of setting the BMDs level at which prophylactic treatment against osteoporosis must be started, the calcaneus BMDs was measured by single energy x-ray absorptiometry (SXA) and the vertebrae (L2-L4) BMDs by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) among Japanese women. The high accuracy of these two measuring methods was already established in the previous study (Hoshi et al. 1993). MATERIALS AND METHODSUsing healthy women in ages ranging from 20 to 75 years old as the subjects, the calcaneus BMDs in 440 women and lumbar vertebrae (L2-L4) BMDs in 233 women were measured by SXA and DEXA, respectively.

A 58-year-old, postmenopausal, multiparous woman presented with a chief complaint of abnormal vaginal bleeding. Endometrial cytology was evaluated twice, revealing only squamous epithelial cells both times. Degenerated leiomyoma or uterine sarcoma was suspected from imaging findings, and total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy were therefore performed. However, histopathological examination revealed no signs of malignancy, and the patient was diagnosed as having ichthyosis uteri with uterine leiomyoma. No koilocytosis was evident, and immunostaining for p16 was also negative. Ichthyosis uteri is an extremely rare disease of unknown origin in which squamous metaplasia of the endometrium occurs across a wide area. Although regarded as a benign condition, cases have been reported in which the underlying condition was squamous cell carcinoma or endometrial adenocarcinoma. If ichthyosis uteri is present, a comprehensive approach is required, and the possibility of uterine malignancy should be considered. However, there may be no direct association between the malignant lesions and ichthyosis uteri.