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Osteoporosis Osteoporosis Prevention

Bone Density: Should You Be Tested?

Summary & Participants

People with osteoporosis are often unaware that they have the disease until they sustain a fracture, which can result from the slightest accident. For this reason, screening for osteoporosis is an important health precaution for many women at risk. Tune in as we discuss bone density testing and those people who should consider getting screened for this silent disease.

Medically Reviewed On: July 10, 2008

Webcast Transcript

LISA CLARK: Welcome to our webcast. I'm Lisa Clark. When it comes to osteoporosis, most women think they know the basics, but with 10 million cases of osteoporosis in the U.S. alone, there's no doubt people need to know more about this serious condition, which in many cases can be prevented. What exactly is osteoporosis, and why does it occur?

Joining me today to answer these questions is Dr. Carolyn Becker. She's the Associate Director of the Tony Stabile Osteoporosis Center at Columbia University. Welcome, and thanks for joining us.

CAROLYN BECKER, MD: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

LISA CLARK: I want to start with a discussion of bone density. What is that, how is it measured, and why is it so important?

CAROLYN BECKER, MD: Lisa, we have found over the years that bone density is one of the major predictors of whether a person will have a fracture someday later in life. Bone density refers to the thickness of your bone, and the more porous the bone the more fragile it is and the more at high risk you are for a fracture. So getting a bone density measurement will give you an idea whether you are at high risk for breaking a bone without any trauma later in life.

LISA CLARK: How is a bone density test done?

CAROLYN BECKER, MD: There are many different ways of measuring bone density, but the most popular is called the DEXA -- dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. It's a simple, very low energy x-ray that penetrates the bone in the lower spine, the wrist and the hip, which are three areas where people are most likely to osteoporotic fractures. It gives a very accurate determination of the thickness of your bones in those different sites. There are other ways to measure bone density, but the DEXA is really the gold standard, and it's the basis upon which we make treatment recommendations and guide our patients.

LISA CLARK: That's the system that's been used a lot in clinical trials to determine osteoporosis predictability?

CAROLYN BECKER, MD: Absolutely. Most of the major clinical trials with new drug therapies and other interventions have used the DEXA as their way of predicting and measuring osteoporosis.

LISA CLARK: Let's say someone thinks, "I don't drink as much milk as I should. Maybe I should get a bone density scan." How do you tell which people really need to have them and which can wait?

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