Faulty Bone Scan

[Tlflom]

I was diagnosed with 31% bone loss in 2 years. After pursuing multiple specialist appointments. I ended up at a bone clinic. After a few questions the doc announced she did not believe the DEXA results. I was rescanned immediately.

The density was unchanged from the previous 6 years at the low end of normal! FYI, dramatic changes with no known causes might be a false reading. Guess who will be doing my DEXA from now on?

I was trained to perform Dexa and it is all computer automated so I don't know how it could be a tech error unless the daily calibrations were off.

[Jumpey]

So distressing that this happened. And those years of concern and worry.And great news for the future! X

[Met00]

From what I've read (but you'll obviously know more about this), DEXA machines should be recalibrated regularly and individual operators need to check their own calibration on a regular basis too. Although there's a lot of automation, it's possible to align the body wrongly, even to the extent of including the wrong vertebrae (hopefully that's extremely rare!) and also interpret the data incorrectly, for example by reference to the wrong database. What a good job the doctor at the bone clinic was on the ball!

[Tlflom in reply to Met00]

For the tech running the dexa, there isn't much to do or get wrong. It is all pretty automatic. Which is why I totally trusted the result. Doing a regular xray does require positioning, dialing up the technical factors, and post processing. So a faulty dexa is either bad QA which is usually the beginning of each day and or faulty equipment. Both are quite concerning. I have not been able to reach the imaging director.

[Met00 in reply to Tlflom]

You might be interested in this study: "technical errors were identified in 90% of patients and affected interpretation in 13%. Interpretation errors were present in 80% of patients; 42% were major" and "Conclusion: DXA technical and interpretation errors are extremely common and likely adversely affect patient care" (researchgate.net/publicatio....

[Tlflom in reply to Met00]

Thank you. This sight left me with more questions (not a bad thing). I am always looking for good research, have saved the link and will be spending some time on it. Thanks again.

[StormyRon]

Thank you for the heads up