 Patient Prep: There is no Patient Prep What is a Bone Density scan? A Bone Density scan is a scan that is used to determine if a patient has osteoporosis or is at risk for osteoporosis. A Bone Density scan uses X-rays to measure how many grams of calcium and other bone minerals are packed into a segment of bone. The amounts of each X-ray beam that are blocked by bone and soft tissue are compared to each other. Bone with higher mineral density allows less of the X-ray beam to pass through them, thus allowing the physician to determine a patient's bone density is adequate. Osteoporosis: disease that causes bones to become more fragile and more likely break.
How is a Bone Density scan done?
A patient will lie on their back on a padded table. Patients remain fully clothed unless their is metal on their clothing. If there is metal within the patient, a different body part is then chosen to scan. The machine will scan over your body and measure the amount of radiation absorbed by the bones. The scan takes about 20 minutes to perform and is completely painless. After the Bone Density scan, the images will be interpreted by one of our providers.
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