Co-Chairs: M Bouxsein, H Genant

Members: C Arnaud, D Chappard, R Chapurlat, J Compston, A Diez-Perez, JP Devogelaer, HP Dimai,  D Felsenberg, CC Glüer, S Lekamwasam, P Miller, OD Messina, N Pocock, P Sambrook

Externally co-opted members: J Adams, N Binkley, L Lenchik, C Roux, J Schousboe, P Szulc, T Vokes

To explore surrogate endpoints for osteoporosis and fragility fracture. To define, facilitate and enable the use of bone imaging/biomechanical markers as surrogate endpoints for osteoporosis clinical trials and eventually to expand their application to clinical practice as valid measures of disease status and response to therapy.

• Highlight the current status (performance and limitations) of non-invasive imaging techniques for assessing bone quality.
• Evaluate the ability of imaging techniques in detecting patients with fractures, at high risk of fracture and in monitoring changes in bone quality after pharmacological treatment.
• Elaborate educational tools that would orientate scientists and health professionals towards research priorities.

• Vertebral Fracture Initiative 2: exploring the indication for DXA-based vertebral fracture assessment.
• The Vertebral Fracture Initiative was created to encourage radiologists to detect vertebral fractures on radiographs, to report them clearly as fractures, and to recommend appropriate investigation and management.
• A recent update of these resources and teaching slides included up-to-date studies and a larger section on DXA-based Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) (its concept, clinical performance, advantages, limitations and some image cases). Because the VFI2 emphasizes DXA-based VFA, the target audience extends to clinicians as well as radiologists.