Bone mass is commonly used as an indicator of fracture risk. It has been shown in numerous studies that bone loss causes increased bone fragility and risk of fracture. It has also been shown that 50% of patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures have the same bone mass as normal age matched controls. Thus, bone mass alone is not the only indicator of bone quality and ability to resist fracture.

The objective of this study was to qualitatively assess bone’s mechanical and histomorphometric changes with drug treatment, and estrogen deficiency, using fracture toughness, femoral neck fracture and histomorphometric analysis in an ovarectomized rabbit model.

No significant differences were found in fracture toughness, porosity, or femoral neck ultimate strength for any treatment group, which may have be from a lack sufficient time for the difference caused by estrogen deficiency and drug treatment to manifest in the rabbit model.