DEXA Scan

Today we are going over the basics of DEXA. This will help patients understand the test and what is being measured. It will also help clinical providers understand this test better. Let's dive in!

 

The Basics

DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry

-              Xray machine used for analyzing body composition

-              Great at telling the difference between bone, fat, and lean tissue (mostly muscle)

-              Uses 2 xray beams of different energies for this, hence Dual (via subtracting attenuation coefficients….or something like that)

-              Most studied and widely used tool for looking at bone density

-              USPSTF recommends all women over age 65 get one

-              But 65 is way to late to get your first DEXA. The Cliff of old age is already luming at that point.

-              I recommend getting one in your 20s or 30s to get a baseline and to help plan for the future. This will give you decades to improve things like bone density or get more muscled.

Check out FullScope.org or Longetrics.org for the complete blog posts.