The Imaging Department of Moses Taylor Hospital has a state-of-the-art clinical bone densitometer added to its expanding list of health services. The bone densitometer measures the bone mineral content and density of specific bone sites that are most susceptible to fracture due to Osteoporosis and other degenerative bone diseases.
The procedure itself is simple. Bone density testing is fast, painless, and noninvasive. During a test, patients lie fully clothed on a padded treatment table while the machine scans one or more areas of bone. The entire test normally takes only minutes. The test is fast and convenient. And because of that, we hope patients will take advantage of this highly accurate test.
Osteoporosis is a disease of the skeleton in which the bone loses density. Osteoporosis is diagnosed when bone density has decreased to the point where fractures will happen with mild stress, such as coughing. Tests, like the bone densitometer, can be useful in managing osteoporosis before much bone loss has occurred.
Eighty percent of the more than 24 million Americans who have osteoporosis are women, and it affects almost 90% of women over 75, according to a consumer health newsletter Well-Connected. For more information on bone density tests and other women's health services offered at Moses Taylor Hospital, please contact the Marketing Communications Department at comrel@mth.org.