OSTEOPOROSIS PREVENTION

Osteoporosis Prevention and Duel Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) Scanners
Osteoporosis is a disease resulting from a loss of bone mineral content that leads to a reduction in bone density. It is the most common human metabolic bone disorder. The loss of bone mineral makes bones more fragile and more susceptible to fracture. Most critically this affects the spine and hips.

Although osteoporosis threatens more than 26 million Americans, 80 percent of whom are women, most people do not know they have osteoporosis until they suffer a fracture.

The past year, the National Osteoporosis Foundation published its “Physician’s Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis.” Identified risk factors include being female, thin or small framed, history of fracture as an adult, advanced age, family history, treatment with certain medications such as steroids, smoking, low calcium intake, and most significantly menopause. Women can lose up to 20 percent of their bone mass five to seven years after menopause.

Consequently, osteoporosis is a widespread problem for women over 50. All studies over the past 10 years have shown that risk factor analysis is no substitute for bone densitometry for identifying patients at risk for fracture.

While there are currently a variety of methods for determining bone mineral density, the widely accepted and acknowledged “gold standard” is Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) of the spine and hip, the areas of the body most critically at risk for fracture.

Currently this is used not only to detect osteoporosis, but also to evaluate therapy. DEXA is a safe, simple and effective way to measure bone density, by exposing it to a low dose of x-ray and measuring the dose absorbed by the bone.