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DEXACARE G4 – DEXA FOREARM DENSITOMETER
The Dexacare G4 system is extremely accurate, automatically calculates the Z score (compared to peers), the T score (compared to the ideal) and provides a numerical baseline for each patient. Using this numerical baseline it is easy to track the progress (or lack of progress) of any patient requiring treatment for osteopenia or osteoporosis.
Equipment with a low accuracy error factor is important when it comes diagnosing a patient. Accuracy is also important when the result of a single patient is to be compared with a reference population, i.e. to assess whether the patient has normal or abnormal bone mass. The accuracy error factor of the Dexacare G4 system is below 3% (lowest in industry) indicating that the physician is able to make a reliable diagnosis.
Equipment with a low precision error factor is extremely important because it indicates the ability of a particular instrument to find the same value when measuring the same person on follow-up visits (reproducibility). A low precision error factor, then, is significantly relevant when a patient is followed over time to monitor the spontaneous development and the effect of treatment. The higher the precision error factor, the higher difference needed between two measurements before you can detect a statistically significant difference. This means that an instrument with a precision error factor of 1% can detect a bone loss of 2.8% whereas an instrument with a precision error factor of 5% will not detect bone loss until the patient has lost 14% of his/her bone mass. The Dexacare G4 system has a BMD precision error factor of less than 1%.
EARLY DETECTION/PREVENTION
YOU CAN’T TELL BY LOOKING! Only a bone density test (densitometry) can test and measure bone strength. This accurate, painless, noninvasive test can detect osteoporosis before a fracture occurs, predict the possibility of fracturing in the future, determine the rate of bone loss and monitor the effects of treatment.
Bone loss progresses silently and painlessly until the bones become so weak that a sudden strain, bump or fall causes a fracture or a vertebra to collapse. Often, subsequent fractures occur which lead to chronic back pain, height loss, kyphosis, disability or death. The most typical fracture sites are hip, spine, wrist and ribs although the disease can affect any bone in the body.
Risk Factors
Female
Thin and/or small frame
Advanced age
Family history of osteoporosis
Menopause, including early or surgically induced menopause
Abnormal absence of menstrual periods (amenorrhea)
Anorexia nervosa or bulimia
Hyperthyroidism
Rheumatoid arthritis
Low calcium diet
Use of certain medications such as corticosteroids and anticonvulsants
Low testosterone levels in men
Inactive lifestyle
Cigarette smoking
Excessive use of alcohol
Caucasian or Asian (Highest Risk)
Native American, Afro-American and Hispanics (Significant risk)
WOMEN
By about age 20, the average woman has acquired 98% of her skeletal mass. Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can be the best defense against developing osteoporosis later. This defense includes a balanced diet, rich in calcium and vitamin D, weight-bearing exercise, a healthy lifestyle with no smoking, limited alcohol and regular bone density testing. Women age 35 and up are recommended to receive a base line bone density test and depending upon the test scores to be retested on regular intervals.
(Every 9-12 months for scores of osteopenia or osteoporosis).
Some postmenopausal women are fast bone losers. The postmenopausal bone loss averages 2% per year but it varies substantially from one woman to another. While one woman may lose only 1% per year, another woman may lose 6% per year or more. The woman with fast bone loss will be at higher risk of developing osteoporosis later in life. It is therefore very important to be able to identify these “fast bone losers” as early as possible after menopause in order to institute preventative therapy in due time.
Men
Osteoporosis is less common in men than women for several reasons. They have larger skeletons, bone loss starts later in life and progresses more slowly and they don’t experience the rapid bone loss associated with the decrease in estrogen production at menopause. However, they can experience a marked bone loss as they age due to declining testosterone levels similar to the bone loss that occurs in women at menopause.
In addition, estrogen may play a critical role in bone health in men. Other factors include a decrease in activity and exercise and a decrease in Calcium and Vitamin D. There are also changes in bone metabolic activity. Men 50 years of age and up should have a bone scan on regular intervals.
Approximately 50 – 60% of men with osteoporosis have disorders or conditions that can produce bone loss including hypogonadism (low testosterone production), hyper-parathyroidism, intestinal disorders, malignancies, steroid therapy, immobilization and unhealthy lifestyle activities.
The following illustration is of a printed report from the Dexacare G4 for the Bone mass Calculation of an anonymous patient used for this example only.
BOWMAN CHIROPRACTIC & REHABILITATION
