What is DXA?

Radiation?

Just like many other diagnostic tests, DXA makes use of X-ray radiation although the dose received by a routine DXA scan, which is considered extremely low in comparison to tests such as CT and general X-Ray.
In perspective, a DXA scan dose of radiation is relatively similar to the radiation you receive from a days worth of regular activities e.g. eating, travelling and use of technology.*

*Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, World Average of Natural Background Ionising Radiation. Available here. Accessed July 2018

Types of DXA scans

Although DXA has the capacity to carry out many scan types, its main two areas cover bone mineral density and body composition analysis.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD):

The aim of BMD scanning is to test how dense a person’s bones are which can provide information on your risk of conditions such as osteoporosis. A routine procedure takes around 15 minutes and can include the following sites:

Lumbar (lower) spine
Hip
Forearm

Body Composition Analysis (BCA):

BCA scanning uses an image of the whole body to differentiate bone, fat and muscle tissue. The information which can be gained from this method can be used to assess a person’s risk of various obesity and metabolic related conditions as well as to monitor progress of treatment plans which may aim to manipulate bone, fat or muscle mass from either a whole body or regional perspective. The procedure takes between 3 and 7 minutes.

BCA is used to assess risk of obesity and other metabolic conditions & to monitor progress of treatment

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Find your nearest DXA Clinic

DXA Stands for ‘Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry’ which as the name implies – uses X-rays which are absorbed by bodily tissues in order to calculate densities of varying tissue types.