Bone Mineral Densitometry: What To Expect
We make it a priority to ensure you are at ease during your BMD scan. Canada Diagnostic Centres provides private change rooms and comfortable cloth scrubs for you to change into. You may also be asked to remove your jewelry. One of our technologists will assist you to the BMD room and help to position you on a table.
A BMD exam should take no longer than 10 minutes. Measurements of the lower spine and one hip are the most common areas scanned during this exam. Once the exam is complete, you are free to leave and resume regular activity.
Prior to booking an appointment, please advise your physician if you have recently had a barium examination, or if you have been injected with a contrast material for a CT scan or radioisotope scan. Women should always inform their physician or the technologist before the exam if there is a possibility they are pregnant.
For people with a severe spinal deformity, previous spinal surgery, and/or replacement of both hips, DXA is less useful. The presence of vertebral compression fractures or osteoarthritis may also interfere with the accuracy of this test.
