Inner West Allied Health & Specialist Centre

Before your DEXA scan

A short form to complete and return before your appointment
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Why we ask. A DEXA scanner measures how much of the X-ray beam each part of your body absorbs, and works out from that how much is bone, muscle and fat. Anything implanted absorbs the beam too, and the scanner counts it as tissue. Knowing what is there beforehand means your results can be read correctly rather than corrected afterwards.

The second reason matters just as much. Your conditions and medications change how your body handles energy, builds muscle and maintains bone. A thyroid disorder, a steroid, a diabetes medication, a hormone treatment — each of these shifts what your numbers mean and, more importantly, what should be done about them. The exercise, nutrition and lifestyle guidance we write after your scan is built around them. The same body fat percentage calls for a different plan in someone on a corticosteroid than in someone who is not, and a plan that ignores your circumstances is a plan you will not be able to follow.

A small number of items need us to know before the day. Tick one and a note appears underneath telling you what to do. Everything else is simply recorded.

Your details all fields

Height and weight are measured again on the day, so your best estimate is fine. If you are taller than 195.6 cm or heavier than 227 kg, please also tick the matching item under Precautions and contraindications below.

Implants and devices tick anything that applies

Metal is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone. Silicone is read as bone too, despite being no denser than muscle, because of how it absorbs the beam. Either changes the result for the part of the body it sits in. If you are unsure whether something counts, tick it and add a note — it is easier to set aside information we do not need than to discover it afterwards.

A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
Why the fill matters. The scanner reads the two types differently. Silicone is counted as bone, so your whole-body bone reading is affected while your muscle and fat results are essentially unaffected. Saline is counted as lean tissue, so your muscle reading is slightly overstated while bone is largely unaffected. If you are not sure which you have, choose “Not sure” and we will read it conservatively.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.
A separate bone scan will be needed. Hardware like this is read by the scanner as extremely dense bone, so your whole-body bone result cannot be used. A separate spine and hip scan measures sites away from the implant. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 so we can arrange it. Your muscle and fat results are not affected.

Health, medications and lifestyle tap a heading to open it

Five groups. Every item is optional and most people tick only a handful. These change how your results are read and what we recommend afterwards.

Precautions and contraindications to address before your scanshow

A few of these need us to know before the day. Tick them and a note will appear telling you what to do.

Pregnancy, or any possibility of pregnancy, means the scan cannot go ahead. DEXA uses X-rays, and although the dose is very low there is no reason to expose a pregnancy to it for a test that can wait. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 and we will postpone your appointment. There is no charge for this.
Recent contrast or nuclear medicine means the scan needs to be rescheduled. Barium or iodinated contrast stays in the gut, and a nuclear medicine tracer stays in the body, for days afterwards. Either is read by the scanner as dense tissue and will make the result wrong. We normally allow at least seven days after contrast and three days after a nuclear medicine study. Please call us on 02 9518 3400 with the date of the study.
Please call us before your appointment on 02 9518 3400. Our scanner table is rated to 227 kg, so a scan above that weight needs to be planned in advance rather than discovered on the day.
Please stop calcium supplements for 24 hours before your scan. A tablet taken the day before can still be in the gut when the images are taken, and the scanner cannot tell undigested calcium from bone, which affects the spine reading. Your prescribed medicines should be continued as normal.
You are taller than the scan field, which is 195.6 cm long. The technician positions you so the head sits outside the field and everything from the neck down is captured precisely. The head is excluded from body composition tracking in any case, because it barely changes and says nothing useful about muscle or fat, so nothing of value is lost. No action is needed from you — we just allow a little extra time for positioning.
Conditions and syndromesshow

Anything diagnosed by a doctor. Tick what applies; leave the rest. If you are unsure whether something counts, tick it and add a note at the end.

Medicationsshow

Prescription and over-the-counter medicines you take regularly. Several of these affect muscle, bone or body composition directly, and several change what we would recommend afterwards.

Supplementsshow

Anything you take regularly. Creatine in particular changes lean mass readings, so it matters for interpreting your scan.

Activity, lifestyle and goalsshow

How active you are, what you want from your scan, and anything that gets in the way of exercise. None of this is a judgement — it shapes what we recommend, so the plan fits your life rather than an ideal one.

Your activity profile

Which types of exercise do you currently do? Tick all that apply.

Nutrition
Your goals

What would you like to achieve? Tick all that apply.

Lifestyle and barriers

Anything else we should know optional

Recent illness or surgery, a condition or medication you think might be relevant, a previous fracture, or anything you would like the results to address.

Answers stay on this device until you save the file.
Inner West Allied Health & Specialist Centre · Suite 5, 267–277 Norton St, Leichhardt NSW 2040 · 02 9518 3400
This form is used to interpret your scan correctly. It is not a medical assessment and does not replace advice from your doctor.