For Members:
- What is Bone Age Study?
- As children grow, growth plates in their bones change in appearance on the X-ray images and become thinner, eventually disappearing. This is called “closed growth plates”.
- A child’s bone age is called the skeletal age.
- The growth plates look different at each age, a Physician can assign a bone age based on the appearance of the bones and growth plates.
- Bone age studies can help to evaluate how fast or slowly a child’s skeleton is maturing, which can help doctors diagnose conditions that delay or accelerate physical growth and development.
- Bone age can also be used to monitor children on growth hormone therapy or those presenting in delayed or advanced stages of puberty, requiring treatment.
- Usually, the difference between a child’s bone age and his or her chronological age might indicate a growth problem, but not always. Sometimes perfectly healthy children can have bone ages that differ from their chronological ages
- This test is usually ordered by Pediatricians or Pediatric Endocrinologists.
- Children usually don’t have any signs or symptoms of diseases that affect growth. They tend to reach puberty (adulthood) later than their peers do, with delay in the onset of sexual development and the pubertal growth spurt.
- Conventionally, Bone age is determined from an X-Ray of the left hand and can provide an estimate of remaining growth potential and help predict adult height.
- The test is also used to monitor progress and guide treatment of kids with conditions that affect growth e.g. growth hormone deficiency.
- What are the General Indications for Bone Age Study?
- Short Stature (Most Common)
- Idiopathic Short Stature
- Short Children born for small gestational age
- Delayed Growth and Puberty for adolescent
- Precocious (early) Puberty
- Growth Hormone Deficiency
- Turner Syndrome
- Bone age can be used to predict:
- how much time a child will be growing.
- when a child will enter puberty.
- what the child’s ultimate height will be.
What are the Special Indications for Bone Age Study?
1-Endocrine:
- Growth hormone deficiency (GHD)
- Constitutional delay
- Hypothyroidism
- Hypogonadism
- Cushing’s disease
2-Nutritional:
- Malnutrition
- Failure to gain weight as a result of disease
- Inadequate bone mineralization
3-Medications:
- Glucocorticoids
- Amphetamine
- Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues
- Aromatase Inhibitors
4-Chronic Disease:
- Coronary heart disease (CHD)
- Chronic Kidney disease (CKD)
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD)
- Severe Asthma
- Cystic Fibrosis
5-Chromosomal Abnormalities:
- Trisomy 13, 18 and 21 Syndromes
- Turner Syndrome
- Klinefelter Syndrome
- Russel-Silver Syndrome
For Healthcare Providers:
- Always submit detailed history of the sign & symptoms with onset and duration.
| CPT |
Description |
| 77072 |
Bone age studies |
| 77073 |
Bone length studies (orthoroentgenogram, scanogram) |
| 77075 |
Radiologic examination, osseous survey; complete (axial and appendicular skeleton) |
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