Patients with CKD are at increased risk of bone loss and fractures. Prospective observational studies have shown that the severity of kidney disease is directly associated with the amount of bone loss (1-4). In CKD, fractures are 2-to 14-fold more common than in the general population (5,6). The frequency of fractures increases as renal disease worsens (7,8), and the incidence of fractures has increased over the past 20 years (9,10). Compared with those without fractures, patients with CKD with fractures experience a 16% (9) to 270% (11) increased risk of mortality. The increasing numbers of fractures together with the high mortality rates have focused attention on methods to improve the diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment of renal osteodystrophy in order to prevent fractures. The tetracycline double-labeled transiliac crest bone biopsy with histomorphometry is the gold standard for diagnosing and classifying renal osteodystrophy and these biopsy results form the basis on which treatment decisions are made. However, bone biopsy is not practical in all patients all of the time. Bone biopsy is invasive, expensive, and not widely available, and physicians performing this procedure require specialized training (12)(13)(14). The pragmatic limitations of biopsy have fueled interest in the use of noninvasive imaging and biochemical methods to assess the type of renal osteodystrophy, classify risk of bone loss and fractures, and inform therapeutic decisions. Although the utility of noninvasive methods to improve patient-related outcomes remains to be proven in clinical trials, they have elucidated both mechanisms of bone fragility and potential targets for fracture prevention strategies in CKD populations.Traditionally, the role of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to classify fracture risk in CKD was controversial. This is because the pathogenesis of renal osteodystrophy is not uniform, may be the result of either single or overlapping causes (e.g., hypogonadal, glucocorticoid-induced, hyperparathyroidism, low or high turnover bone disease, poorly mineralized osteoid, mixed), and is fluid (e.g., may change from low to high turnover and vice versa). In addition, the type of renal osteodystrophy does not correlate with low, high, or normal bone mineral density (BMD). Furthermore, elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, which are common in CKD, may be anabolic for trabecular bone and catabolic for cortical bone. Given the inability of DXA to separate these components, DXA may be limited in its use as a marker of bone strength. However, despite these limitations of DXA, recent prospective trials in patients with predialysis CKD (15), ESRD on hemodialysis (16), and after kidney transplantation (17) indicate that low areal BMD measured by DXA at the forearm and hip predicts future fracture. These new data will influence the updated recommendations on the screening and management of bone disease from the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes Guidelines Committee.Measurement of PTH and bone turnover marker...