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351
S.W. 9th Street
Ontario, Oregon 97914
(541)
881-7000 Phone
1-877-225-4762 Toll Free
www.holyrosary-ontario.org
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Holy
Rosary Medical Center is excited to announce that we have just
finished with the installation of our new DEXA Scanner located
at the main hospital in Ontario Oregon.
So what is a DEXA Scanner?
This scanner is used to measure Bone Mass
Density and determine if you have an increased risk of fracture due
to osteoporosis.
 Why is it important to know if you have osteoporosis?
According
to the National Osteoporosis Foundation; “Osteoporosis
is a disease in which bones become fragile and more likely
to break. If not prevented
or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly
until a bone breaks. These broken bones, also known as fractures,
occur
typically in the hip, spine, and wrist. A hip fracture almost
always requires hospitalization and major surgery. It can
impair a person's
ability to walk unassisted and may cause prolonged or permanent
disability or even death. Spinal or vertebral fractures also
have serious consequences,
including loss of height, severe back pain, and deformity.
In the U.S. today, one in two women and one in four men 50
and over will
break a bone due to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis now causes
an estimated 2 million fractures each year and often results
in immobility, pain,
placement in a nursing home, isolation and other health problems—conditions
and circumstances that could largely be prevented through
proper bone density testing and diagnosis, (NOF, 2007).”
So who is at risk for developing osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is a
major public health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans
or 55 percent of the people 50 years of age and older. In the U.S.,
10 million individuals are estimated to already have the disease
and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, placing
them at increased risk for osteoporosis.
Of the 10 million Americans estimated to have osteoporosis, eight
million are women and two million are men, or in other words 80 percent
women and 20 percent men.
The scanning time for this test is usually about 10 minutes and there
is no special pre-testing or fasting associated with this procedure.
This test is dedicated to the screening, assessing and monitoring
of osteoporosis.
Holy Rosary Medical Center is dedicated to providing state of
the art technology for all of our patients. We know that the DEXA
scan will be a great tool to use in the prevention and monitoring
of osteoporosis. An added feature to this system is the Vertebral
Fracture Assessment. Vertebral Fracture Assessment is recognized
as the gold standard in fracture risk assessment.
We are excited to have this technology back in the Ontario area
and look forward to assisting you in all your scanning needs.
Reference: NOF, 2007. National Osteoporosis Foundation. Retrieved 12-27-2007
from
http://www.nof.org/
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