DEXA SCAN LONDON UK

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If you are worried about your bone health, have suffered from osteoporosis or osteopenia plagued and no practitioner can give you the answer, Rick Miller can help you.

Today, technology has brought us to a point where virtually no ailment can go undetected and untreated. One such technology is a DEXA Scan. If bone health is a concern, then Rick Miller’s clinic at King Edward VII’s hospital provides a gold standard service for a DEXA scan in London.

This test is performed to determine your bone density before being reviewed by a rheumatologist and providing specific medications and lifestyle changes if needed:

Some of the reasons for getting your bone density checked can be:

• If you have a history of hip bone fracture
• If you have a condition related to any kind of bone, such as rheumatoid or osteoarthritis.
• If you are on a medication which is known to have bone-related side effects, such as corticosteroids.
• If you have any thyroid-related condition.
• If you fracture easily, even with mild trauma.
• You have a history of coeliac disease or inflammatory bowel disease
• You have suffered from malnutrition, an eating disorder or overtraining resulting in stress fractures.

With the help of DEXA scan in London, your bone conditions can be detected at an early stage and can be cured or even prevented with the right medical approach.

A DEXA scan helps in determining your bone mineral density in a non-invasive way. The word DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry. This procedure aims to detect brittle or weak bones to help clinicians and doctors in predicting the possibility of future bone-related conditions or fractures. Also, a series of DEXA scans can help in determining the gradual advancement of bone loss and administer treatment accordingly.

In a DEXA scan in London, two, instead of one, x-ray beams are directed at the bone in order to assess if the person is at risk or suffering from bone mineral loss. While a simple x-ray can detect bone density changes after there has been a 40% bone loss, DEXA is a more advanced technique that can detect a severe condition at a much earlier stage - as early as only after 1% bone loss, which makes it more accurate.

In this quick and painless procedure, the patient is required to lie down flat on their backs over an x-ray table. This gives the tester access to your affected area. You may or may not be required to change your clothes but you will be required to remove anything with a metal part.

All it takes for you is lying as still as possible on the table while the attendant or radiographer will operate the machine. A scanning arm will move over your body while a low-dose x-ray beam will scan the core of your bones to measure their density.

Many people choose to make bone density check a part of their routine check-ups. However, generally, men under the age of 70 and women under the age of 65 might not need to get tested because bone loss is more commonly associated with older age.

However, if you experience any of the following conditions, you can consider taking the test regardless of your age.

• Having a fracture even in a minor accident
• Having a maternal history of hip fracture
• If you have low body weight
• History of extended usage of corticosteroid drugs

With the help of DEXA scanning, doctors diagnose a serious health condition, low bone density and elevated risk of sustaining fractures, early on before the condition manifests severely. DEXA scan for body fat UK can also be used to determine body fat percentage and used to estimate visceral (organ based) body fat, helping you to understand your risk of health conditions associated with elevated visceral fat such as type II diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

In the end, with the help of DEXA body scan in London, your doctor decides the best treatment for you as the patient and monitors the progress of the prescribed treatment.