Bone Mineral Density

DEXA Scan, Dual Photon Absorptiometry (Bone Mineral Denistry)

What Affects the Test

Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include:

• You cannot be correctly positioned during the test.
• You have had a broken bone in the past. This can cause falsely high BMD results.
• You have arthritis of your spine. In this case, the changes caused by arthritis in the spine may not make the spine the best place to measure for osteoporosis.
• You have metal implants from hip replacement surgery or hip fracture.
• You have had an X-ray test that uses barium within 10 days of the BMD test.

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Author:	Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH	Last Updated: September 23, 2008
Medical Review:	Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Carla J. Herman, MD, MPH - Geriatrics
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