New Study of 4398 Swedish Women Shows Heel Scans by DXL Calscan are Comparable to Hip DXA Scans in Predicting Hip Fractures

The results were presented yesterday at the American Society of Bone Mineral Research (ASBMR) annual meeting in Denver, Colorado by researchers from Karolinska Institute in Sweden. These findings should lead to increased availability of bone density testing due the cost-effective and mobile scanning method available. The full study is published in The Journal of Osteoporosis vol 2010, Art. 875647 End Quote

"Everyone should have the right to know their bone status with a quick and reliable scan."

(1888PressRelease) September 14, 2009 - Taby, Sweden - New data show that hip fractures can be predicted comparably as well by using scans of the heel with the DXL Calscan device (Demetech, Sweden), as scans of the hip using DXA devices. Results also showed that 78% of women who experienced a hip fracture during the follow-up period had an osteoporotic scan result at baseline from DXL Calscan, which is significantly higher than the 46% shown in previous studies performed using DXA hip scans. The absolute risk of hip fracture was calculated based on different levels of scan results and showed a substantially increased risk at the diagnostic cut-off point for osteoporosis. At or below a T-score of -2.5 with DXL Calscan, the women had a 15.6% absolute 10-year risk for hip fracture.

One of the best ways to evaluate any diagnostic technique is to calculate the Area Under Receiver Opering Curve or AUC. In this study this method grades the ability of DXL Calscan to accurately predict which persons are ill and will fracture (sensitivity), while also accurately predicting those who are healthy and do not need treatment (specificity). The AUC of Calscan to predict hip fractures was 0.84 which is better than that previously reported for scans of the hip itself by DXA, AUC=0.76.

Prof. Torkel Brismar, MD, PhD, Lena Toft, MD and Imre Jansky, all from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden state "Calcaneal BMD obtained using Dual X-ray and Laser predicts future hip fractures in women with clinically suspected osteoporosis". The authors' conclusion: "We conclude that DXL of calcaneus should be suitable for diagnosing osteoporosis and for predicting fracture risk."

The implications of this study could increase access to bone density scans for patients who are suspected to be "at risk" for osteoporosis. Presently, access to DXA devices is often limited to hospitals and specialist radiology centers, requiring a physician referral for a bone scan. The 19 centers participating in this study were mostly primary care facilities that are located close to patients and their personal physicians.

About the study
This multi-center study included results from 19 healthcare units and outpatient clinics throughout Sweden. Women 55 years or older were prospectively recruited and fractures were identified from the national patient register, which has been shown to have better than 98% diagnostic code accuracy and 99.7% social security code accuracy. The average follow-up period of 3 years and 11 months included a total of 17,270 person years with 130 women sustaining a hip fracture.

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