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Our DEXA scans tell you how much lean tissue (muscle), fat tissue and bone mass composes your body, and its specific distribution—including the percentage of fat and lean tissue in the arms, legs, trunk, and differences between the left and right sides of the body. DEXA HELPS YOU DISCOVER ...
- Where you SPECIFICALLY store fat,
- If you’re LOSING FAT o
r GAINING MUSCLE,
- How many CALORIES your body needs
-Tracks CHANGES in regional body composition
- Know your bone density
- How to improve athletic performance
- Tracks your progress
- If you’re benefiting from your current plan...
DEXA scans are considered the Gold standard in body composition measurement. The process is safe, quick and painless. Repeat scans every two to six months will demonstrate the change in percent body fat as well as any muscle gain (or loss) and the regional distribution of these changes. For many athletes, performance is improved with optimal body composition. Does your personal trainer have you on the right program? Are your dietary and lifestyle changes paying off? A follow-up Body DEXA Fit scan can answer these questions. The results are produced immediately after the scan. The technologist will discuss the values with you after your scan. The measurement of body fat is more accurate than body mass index for assessing health. A person can have a lot of muscle, but be considered “over-weight” by many height/weight charts. The opposite can also be true – a person can have a lot of fat and little muscle and be “over-fat” but not overweight. Too little body fat is linked to problems with normal, healthy functioning in both men and women. It can also lead to problems with reproduction in women. Too much body fat, especially when located around the abdomen, increases the risk of many diseases, including type II diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and certain cancers. What is DEXA
DEXA stands for Dual Energy Xray Absorptiometry, and this machine generates a low dose of radiation at two energy levels that are absorbed differently by bone, lean and fat tissues and is used to to determine how many grams of tissue is present. A Dexa scan is very safe, and there are no complications associated with the procedure. The radiation doses are very low, which, in fact is less than one days’ exposure to natural background radiation. The technologist can sit just a few feet from you without a protective barrier because the levels are very low. Why DEXA? A DEXA scan is the gold standard in clinical body composition analysis. A total body composition test is fast and easy and relatively inexpensive considering the wealth of accurate, reliable information it yields. Its results have been validated through repeated scientific study and are reproducible. Results from alternatives to DEXA scanning are often misleading, as these measurements are not able to distinguish several factors: gender, age, and obesity or leanness of muscular individuals. Also, other instruments are not able to provide regional body fat values. Who Benefits? Body composition testing is important for overall health and for athletic performance. DEXA scanning results include lean and fat mass measurements provided in total and by site (arms, legs, trunk). This information can serve as a tool for athletes whose aim is optimal body composition for the purpose of enhanced athletic performance. Since a DEXA scan is reproducible, any future scans will provide accurate fat and lean mass trending information. This is ideal for athletes or individuals in a weight management program who would like to gauge their progress or simply measure their body fat. For more than three decades, the prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly among both adults and children. In 2011–12, around 60% of Australian adults were classified as overweight or obese, and more than 25% of these fell into the obese category (ABS 2012). In 2007, around 25% of children aged 2–16 were overweight or obese, with 6% classified as obese (DoHA 2008). The demand for accurate body composition analysis is growing as healthcare providers realize its value in identifying serious health risks that result from obesity, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In as little as three minutes, the Advanced Body Composition assessment feature produces colour images displaying the distribution of fat, lean tissue, and bone, translating the information into an easy to interpret report for improved patient management and counselling. Hologic whole body DEXA systems are the only ones to incorporate the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) whole body composition reference data. Combined with the recently released guidelines from the Endocrine Society which recommends annual bone mineral density and body composition exams for bariatric surgery patients, the Discovery DEXA system will enable you to improve patient management by not only offering bone mineral density tests, but by also calculating your patient’s body composition. What is DEXA? Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA)
Description: DEXA is a fairly new technology. It is based on the three component model of body composition. DEXA uses two X-ray energies to measure body fat, muscle, and bone mineral. When having the scan done, one must lay still in the supine position on what looks like an x-ray table. It takes approximately three minutes for the computer software to produce an image of the tissues. The results may be viewed as whole body estimates of body fat, muscle, and bone mineral as well as regional body estimates. What is a Bone Density Scan? Bone density scanning, also called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) or bone densitometry, is an enhanced form of x-ray technology that is used to measure bone loss. DEXA is today’s established standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD). What are some common uses of the procedure? DEXA is most often used to diagnose osteoporosis, a condition that often affects women after menopause but may also be found in men. Osteoporosis involves a gradual loss of calcium, as well as structural changes, causing the bones to become thinner, more fragile and more likely to break. DEXA is also effective in tracking the effects of treatment for osteoporosis and other conditions that cause bone loss. The DEXA test can also assess an individual’s risk for developing fractures. The risk of fracture is affected by age, body weight, history of prior fracture, family history of osteoporotic fractures and life style issues such as cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. These factors are taken into consideration when deciding if a patient needs therapy. Bone density testing is strongly recommended if you:
• are a post-menopausal woman and not taking oestrogen.
• have a personal or maternal history of hip fracture or smoking.
• are a post-menopausal woman who is tall (over 5 feet 7 inches) or thin (less than 125 pounds).
• are a man with clinical conditions associated with bone loss.
• use medications that are known to cause bone loss, including corticosteroids such as Prednisone, various anti-seizure medications such as Dilantin and certain barbiturates, or high-dose thyroid replacement drugs.
• have type 1 (formerly called juvenile or insulin-dependent) diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease or a family history of osteoporosis.
• have high bone turnover, which shows up in the form of excessive collagen in urine samples.
• have a thyroid condition, such as hyperthyroidism.
• have a parathyroid condition, such as hyperparathyroidism.
• have experienced a fracture after only mild trauma.
• have had x-ray evidence of vertebral fracture or other signs of osteoporosis. The Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA), a low-dose x-ray examination of the spine to screen for vertebral fractures that is performed on the DEXA machine, may be recommended for older patients, especially if:
• they have lost more than an inch of height.
• have unexplained back pain.
• if a DEXA scan gives borderline readings. How should I prepare? On the day of the exam you may eat normally. You should wear loose, comfortable clothing, avoiding garments that have zippers, belts or buttons made of metal. Objects such as keys or wallets that would be in the area being scanned should be removed. You may be asked to remove some or all of your clothes and to wear a gown during the exam. You may also be asked to remove jewelry, dentures, eye glasses and any metal objects or clothing that might interfere with the x-ray images. Inform your physician if you recently had a barium examination or have been injected with a contrast material for a computed tomography (CT) scan or radioisotope scan. You may have to wait 10 to 14 days before undergoing a DEXA test. Women should always inform their physician and x-ray technologist if there is any possibility that they are pregnant. Many imaging tests are not performed during pregnancy so as not to expose the fetus to radiation. If an x-ray is necessary, precautions will be taken to minimize radiation exposure to the baby. How does the procedure work? The DEXA machine sends a thin, invisible beam of low-dose x-rays with two distinct energy peaks through the bones being examined. One peak is absorbed mainly by soft tissue and the other by bone. The soft tissue amount can be subtracted from the total and what remains is a patient’s bone mineral density. DEXA machines feature special software that compute and display the bone density measurements on a computer monitor. How is the procedure performed? The patient lies on a padded table. An x-ray generator is located below the patient and an imaging device, or detector, is positioned above. To assess the spine, the patient’s legs are supported on a padded box to flatten the pelvis and lower (lumbar) spine. To assess the hip, the patient’s foot is placed in a brace that rotates the hip inward. In both cases, the detector is slowly passed over the area, generating images on a computer monitor. You must hold very still and may be asked to keep from breathing for a few seconds while the x-ray picture is taken to reduce the possibility of a blurred image. The technologist will then activate the x-ray machine. An additional procedure called Lateral Vertebral Assessment (LVA) is now being done at many centers. LVA is a low-dose x-ray examination of the spine to screen for vertebral fractures that is performed on the DEXA machine. The LVA test adds only a minute to the DEXA procedure. The DEXA bone density test is usually completed within 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the body being examined. You will probably be asked to fill out a questionnaire that will help the doctor determine if you have medical conditions or take certain medications that either increase or decrease your risk of a fracture. What will I experience during and after the procedure? Bone density tests are a quick and painless procedure. Routine evaluations every two years may be needed to see a significant change in bone mineral density, decrease or increase. Few patients, such as patients on high dose steroid medication, may need follow-up at six months. Who interprets the results and how will I get them? A radiologist, a physician specifically trained to supervise and interpret radiology examinations, will analyze the images and send a signed report to your primary care or referring physician, who will discuss the results with you. Your test results will be in the form of two scores:
T score — This number shows the amount of bone you have compared with a young adult of the same gender with peak bone mass. A score above -1 is considered normal. A score between -1 and -2.5 is classified as osteopenia (low bone mass). A score below -2.5 is defined as osteoporosis. The T score is used to estimate your risk of developing a fracture. Z score — This number reflects the amount of bone you have compared with other people in your age group and of the same size and gender. If this score is unusually high or low, it may indicate a need for further medical tests. Small changes may normally be observed between scans due to differences in positioning and usually are not significant.

