Minonzio JG, et al. - In order to discriminate between postmenopausal fractured and non-fractured women, researchers assessed the performance of a bidirectional axial transmission technique (BDAT) in the one-third distal radius. For 201 postmenopausal women, estimates of cortical thickness (Ct.Th) and porosity (Ct.Po) were obtained: 109 were nonfractured, 92 with one or more nontraumatic fractures, 17 with hip fractures, 32 with vertebral fractures, and 17 with wrist fractures. Using DXA at the femur and spine, the areal bone mineral density (aBMD) was obtained. Femoral aBMD and both US parameters differed significantly between the subgroup of all nontraumatic fractures combined and the control group. According to this pilot cross-sectional study, BDAT variables exhibited similar performance to that of aBMD neck with all types of fractures and that of aBMD femur with hip fractures. If these findings are verified in prospective studies, measurements of cortical BDAT may be considered helpful for evaluating postmenopausal women's fracture risk.