Medical Information Weblog

Archive for the ‘Bone Diseases’ Category

The diagnosis of osteoporosis is usually done by your doctor using a combination of complete medical history and physical examination, skeletal X-rays, bone densitometry and specialized laboratory tests. If the doctor finds low bone mass, may want to order additional tests to rule out other diseases that can cause bone loss, including osteomalcacia (a deficiency of vitamin D) or hyperparatiroidismo (overactive parathyroid gland).

Bone densitometry is a safe and painless x-ray bone density compared with the average bone density for someone of the same sex and race should be reached on the age of 20 to 25 years.

Order in women is often the beginning of menopause. Several types of bone densitometry are used today to detect bone loss in different areas of the body. Dual ray absorptiometry (DXA aka) is one of the most accurate. Other techniques can identify osteoporosis, including single photon absorptiometry (SPA), quantitative computed tomography (QCT), radiographic absorptiometry and ultrasound. Your doctor may know which method would be best for you.