Expires 9/30/2026: This advanced densitometry course focuses on how vertebral fracture imaging advances the diagnosis and treatment of patients at risk of osteoporotic fractures. It emphasizes the importance of vertebral fractures in the clinical management of osteoporosis, including recognition of lateral spine images of a normal spine, and other findings that may be confused with vertebral fractures. Fracture recognition, analysis, and best-practice patient positioning are detailed to ensure ideal image acquisition, interpretation, and reporting. It is recommended, but not required, that registrants attend the Quality Bone Densitometry Course (Clinician or Technologist) prior to attending the VFR course.

Expires 5/7/2026: This session will discuss the value of opportunistic CT in a bone health practice and will demonstrate how to use opportunistic CT to screen for low bone density and vertebral fractures.

Expires 6/14/2026: The consideration of how to best report less than 4 vertebrae for spine BMD is frequently discussed. This issue was addressed during the last position development conference. This lecture will review how this should best be evaluated and reported along with taking into account trabecular bone score reporting in this situation as well.

Expires 10/14/2026: Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, is often considered in the context of osteoporosis and fractures. Despite this, progress in clinical recognition and treatment of sarcopenia has been limited. Sarcopenia today seems comparable to osteoporosis prior to 1990; a disease without widespread clinical diagnosis for which no pharmacologic therapy exists. Moreover, the pathogenesis of sarcopenia and osteoporosis are strikingly similar. Nonetheless, consideration of sarcopenia by osteoporosis clinicians can be done today; reasonable current, and potential future, clinical approaches will be considered.

Expires 10/14/2026: Osteoporosis is a very significant disease with increased fracture risk. This session will explore various ways to approach prevention in patients.

Expires 9/14/2026: The concept of treat to target is well recognized across multiple fields of medicine and for some time now has been discussed in the arena of osteoporosis. This lecture will focus on the concept of treat to target in patients who warrant treatment for being at high risk for fracture along with which goals should be assessed and discussed with the patients for optimizing treatment.

Expires 9/14/2026: Vitamin D is essential to bone health. Controversies exist in this field regarding optimal replacement. Recent Endocrine Society Guidelines will be reviewed along with how this information should best be taken into context in the treatment of our patients with metabolic bone disorders.

Expires 8/14/2026: This session will discuss the basics of positioning, technique, and analysis as well as examine decision making for advanced DXA analysis of GE-Lunar scans. It will demonstrate how bone mapping and soft tissue detection impact measurements. And it will identify challenges such as atypical anatomy and internal artifacts in the lumbar spine and femur.

Expires 8/14/2026: In growing bone, administration of bisphosphonate yields differing effects based on medical condition, age, skeletal site measured, and therapeutic regimen. This session will show how to identify these effects.

Expires 7/14/2026: Fracture Liaison Services are crucial to helping prevent future fractures in very high risk patients. The ideal way in which to implement this service remains debatable. The success and data available on the current FLS program being implemented at MGH to date with the use of Zoledronate early on will be discussed.