DEXA bone scan at Nawaloka Hospital to mark World Osteoporosis Day

The most appropriate way to mark World Osteoporosis Day, which falls on today, is for men and women over 40 years of age to have a DEXA bone scan done. This is especially important for Sri Lankans because the country’s growing ageing population needs to pay special attention to osteoporosis, because it is a ‘silent’ bone disease wherein, by the time symptoms appear, the disease is well advanced and bones have already become brittle.

Globally, one in three women, and one in five men, over the age of 50, experience fractures caused by weak bones. Once a fracture takes place, without adequate treatment, the risk of multiple new fractures occurring also increases. Additionally, 33% of older adults fracturing their hip go on to become physically impaired, even losing their ability to live independently following a fracture.   

Since there is no cure for osteoporosis, and prevention is always a better approach than treatment, those above 40 years of age, especially those in the high risk groups (outlined below) or even those having a family history of fractures, should have their bone density checked periodically.

The Osteoporosis Unit at Nawaloka Hospital sees about 200 patients a month, and utilises the latest DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorption) scanner to determine the strength of bones. Statistics reveal that out of those scanned, about 80% test positive for osteoporosis.

The DEXA scanner, which was acquired by the hospital in 2012 at a cost of Rs. 8 million, offers a whole new dimension in bone health assessment by utilising Hip Structure Analysis (HSA). This determines the biomechanical strength of the hips rather than just relying on bone mineral density, which cannot tell if the treatments being undertaken are making bones stronger.  

It also has the capability to carry out pediatric bone health assessments, for children, as well as a body composition analysis, which accurately measures fat mass, lean mass and total mass for the entire skeleton.  

Early warning signs for osteoporosis include loss of height, curvature of the upper back and lower back pain, with people having sedentary lifestyles as well as those who smoke and consume alcohol and/or caffeine excessively considered to be a high risk group.

At the same time, women are also a high risk group as pregnancy and even menopause depletes calcium in the body and, unless the body’s calcium uptake is increased accordingly, osteoporosis can result.

With more than 400 beds and 600 visiting medical consultants, Nawaloka Hospital is the largest local private hospital in a single location, which is also the country’s first fully fledged private healthcare institution, opened in 1985 with only 100 beds. The hospital was responsible for the well-being of over 1.5 million patients in total during the 2011/2012 period, during which it also carried out close to 15,000 surgeries.