Hello Everyone, I’m fairly new to osteoporosis and I have a question

Would someone please explain to me the difference between a femur neck score and a total hip score? My dexa scan report did not say femur neck score but total score . My report read as

Lumbar spine L1-3 T -2.9

Left hip ,total T -3.1

Patient is significantly osteoporotic with greater than 8 times fracture risk than younger adult.

If I do a risk fracture test on a web site where it ask for a femur neck score do I put in my total T score of my hip ?

Thank you for any answers . Much appreciated.

[yogalibrarian]

Fracture risk is calculated on the femoral neck not the total hip. So you can't substitute and get a meaningful result.

Here's a link to an illustration that may help. (Copy the link and paste it into your browser)

researchgate.net/publicatio...

You can see the difference in area/volume.

It also sounds like your scanning center or healthcare provider only gave you a partial report not the full one. Here's a link to an example of a full report. You can see that it gives you much more info -- and images

avoidboneloss.com/hologichi... (This is the hip page. There is a similar one for the spine.)

I ( and most other health educators) urge people to get the full report. There is a lot of really useful information there for you to discuss with your healthcare provider.

Ask your healthcare provider for the full report. If there are things on the report that you don't understand, you can call the American Bone Health Helpline (855-365-2663) for help understanding the report.

[Hidden in reply to yogalibrarian]

Thank you for all the of information and help. I will be looking into finding this report.

[FearFracture]

Here’s a very good resource and it shows a picture of the femoral neck. melioguide.com/osteoporosis...

You wrote “My dexa scan report did not say femur neck score but total score.” I don’t think you are looking at your full report. For some bizarre reason, imaging center seems to only give out DEXA summaries. 

YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR COMPLETE DEXA REPORT, not just the summary so go back to the imaging center and request your full report. Note, I had to make multiple calls and insist on the full report but I finally got mine—hopefully, your imaging center is more accommodating than the one I was dealing with. 

The full DEXA report will go as far as telling you your BMD for L1 L2 L3 and L4 not just your total lumbar spine total BMD—one example of why you want this info is because if L1 L2 and L3 all have a t-score of 00 but L4 has a t-score of -5 the average or “total” lumbar t-score doesn’t give enough info, in the example I gave it would mean something was wrong with L4 (possibly cancer) and needs further testing.

Here’s an example of part of what you will see in a full DEXA report.

researchgate.net/figure/Exa...

Additionally, here are 3 helpful links you may be interested in checking out BEFORE starting any osteoporosis meds. 

Bone Markers s3.amazonaws.com/Food4Healt...

Tests to consider prior to taking osteoporosis medsbetterbones.com/testing/wha...

Healthy Diet pdf strwebprdmedia.blob.core.wi...

[Seniordoglover in reply to FearFracture]

How long after a DEXA is your full report still available, do you know? I only got a summary report as well, although I didn’t realize that til recently. My DEXA was in August, done at a hospital.

[FearFracture in reply to Seniordoglover]

Years. They still have the data.

[Hidden in reply to FearFracture]

My state keeps them 10 after you no longer are seeing them. That’s doctors and hospitals. I tried to get a copy of a record from 11 years ago from my local hospital and was told they don’t keep records past 10 years old.

[FearFracture in reply to Hidden]

Although it can be annoying and you have to stay organized, it’s best to get copies of all your medical records S you go along. Several yrs after seeing an orthopedics doctor for a burning sensation in the center of my back (which to this day no doctor has been able to help me with) I requested all of my medical history. In the orthopedist’s notes he wrote that I should get a DEXA but he failed to tell me and failed to order the DEXA and his notes also said they would follow up with me and they failed to do that to. Highly annoying. Had he ordered the DEXA as he should have my osteoporosis would have been caught sooner.

[Seniordoglover in reply to FearFracture]

I called the hospital today. She’s going to print me a copy of the images, but she said the general report I got is all there is besides the images. But at least I’ll have the pictures.