PHILIPPI, W.Va. — Broaddus Hospital is pleased to announce the purchase a new state of the art GE Prodigy DEXA unit. This replacement unit has the ability to offer top quality images of bone density for patients at risk for loss of bone mass due to age and disease. It can also be used in the diagnosis of the pediatric age group.
“We are proud to be able to offer the newest Dexa scan technology to our community,” said Broaddus Hospital CEO, Dana Gould.
Osteoporosis is a bone disease that occurs when the body loses too much bone, makes too little bone, or both. As a result, bones become weak and may break from a fall or, in serious cases, from sneezing or minor bumps.
Osteoporosis means “porous bone.” Viewed under a microscope, healthy bone looks like a honeycomb. When osteoporosis occurs, the holes and spaces in the honeycomb are much larger than in healthy bone. Osteoporotic bones have lost density or mass and contain abnormal tissue structure. As bones become less dense, they weaken and are more likely to break.
Conditions affecting loss of bone mass (osteoporosis/osteopenia) can be:
- Women who are past menopause
- Those who have a medical condition or taking medications that can weaken bone such as: Cushing’s syndrome and diabetes
- Those who have had a fracture
- Those with Risk factors including: family history of osteoporosis, women aged 65 or older, diet low in calcium, smoking, heavy drinking or lack of exercise.
The Prodigy Pro Bone Densitometer is a high performance, fan-beam DXA densitometer that allows physicians to monitor osteoporosis in patients and assist in diagnosis. Tailored for advanced skeletal assessment the Prodigy delivers reliable dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with excellent precision and extremely low radiation dose.
The Prodigy Pro also includes the FRAX Fracture Risk Tool. FRAX 10-Year Fracture Risk provides an estimate of 10-year probability of hip fracture and 10-year probability of an osteoporotic fracture for men and postmenopausal women ages 40-90 years.
