Bone Density

Osteoporosis Screening

Bone densitometry is a way of measuring your bone density, which is a method of estimating the strength of bones and the likelihood of bone fractures with minimal or no trauma. If the bone density is very low, then you have osteoporosis and a very high risk of fracturing your bones. A standard X-ray is not a good way to measure bone density because you must lose at least 30% of your bone mass before it can be detected this way. The doctor and patient needs to find out about any problem long before it gets that severe.

There are different techniques for measuring bone density. The Breast Center of NWA utilizes the “gold standard” method called “Dual Energy X-ray Absorption” – abbreviated DXA. This uses a very weak form of X-ray (about 1/30 the radiation of a standard chest X-ray) to rapidly scan your bones and a computer to convert this information to numbers indicating your bone density. This is a high technology test which takes only a few minutes and involves no shots, needles, enemas, or medicine. In fact, you don’t even have to take off your clothes, provided what you are wearing does not contain any metal objects.