QUS versus DEXA scans for bone density
Recently my sister went to Nagpur a fairly large city in central India which is on par with Bombay and they have Asia's largest Medical Institute there, along with many experts in many fields. Harvard as also collaborated with a local hospital there.
This is what se had to narrate. While her DEXA scan at the small city of Dehra Dun -- close to where I live in North India -- showed she had severe osteoporisis, with scores as bad as -4.9 in the spine and femur -- and this despite the fact that she had been walking all her life in the hot sun-- she opted for another bone density test at Nagpur.
The orthopedist there who is a well known doctor made her take an Ultra Sound of her heel and ankle -- and the results showed that she had only Osteopenia!! And that the DeXa results had been off the mark. This also co-related with her life style of walking in the sun all her life!
I wonder how many folk here are aware of the fact that a new method, which is cheaper, and requires a small hand held knob with a computer is available for bone density measurements and is already in use in India and Europe-- and some believe the results are comparable to the DEXA scans with their huge machines.
In this method they apply ULTRA Sound waves to the Achilles Heel or the area of the foot known as "calcaneal"-- they do this by applying a little gel on the ankle and then running a small hand held knob over it -- while the computer records the results on its screen. It feels like a small hand haled massage of the heel, painless and ticklish!
They say that the manner in which the ultrasound waves pass through the heel tell of the hardness of the heel -- namely its bone density. They also say that this area of the foot has compatibility with the spine and hip areas shown by DEXA. There are some that claim that not only is this method cheaper -- and any doctor can have this in his clinic for a low cost in contrast to those multimillion dolar DEXA Scan machines! For the patient the costs for this ultrasound bone density scan were negligible as compared to the huge costs for getting a DEXA scan done.
Would anyone happen to know more about this? Just type QUS versus DEXA for Bone Density in the Google Search engine and see what it says!! They say the results for QUS are comparable if not better than DEXA. It is already prevalent in India and reputed doctors are using it.
Please let me know what you think.
Hi Priya, please see the answer to this on our Question of the Week on vitamin D. Maybe some of our members have had this test and can tell you more. I hope this test turns out to be a good alternative for you and your family since DXA's are so hard to find in your country and expensive.
Take Care...
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Dear Pam,
Many thanks again for the important infomration you have sent and the llink to
the QUS site. I suppose they would have the latest research work in the US--
and the pdf NIH article clearly states that while QUS had some relevance in
predicting fracture risks it is not a viable tool for long term follow up of
osteoporosis -- and this is because of its lack of accuracy, and varying
results by over 20% in some cases. It also does not recommend the compounded
use of QUS with DEXA as was being done then by some.
This article was written in 1999. The health watch central site was written in
2009 and speaks of something known as QUS-2, which is supposedly an improved
model of the earlier equipment. While it is possible that they may have made
improvements in 10 years, yet if this were so it would have become widely
aceptable in the US and superseded the DEXA a long time ago.
So I can only attribute its use in India to a lack of the knowledge about the
research done on the subject!
So I would think that rather than think backwards in science I shoud be
thinking in terms of new advances and techniques to come.
Thank you for being there always for me with the best of medical knowledge at
your finger tips! But I know how hard you must be working to find the most
accurate medical sites on the web.
Hope you have been well yourself!
Yours,
Priya