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Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts
Published on: January 29, 2018
iDXA, Prodigy, and DPXL dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry whole-body scans: a cross-calibration study
Holly Hull1, Qing He, John Thornton
1Department of Medicine, Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, and Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, USA.
Purpose:
Total body fat, lean, and bone mineral content (BMC) in addition to regional fat and lean mass values for arms, legs, and trunk were compared across a pencil-beam (Lunar DPXL) and 2 fan-beam (GE Lunar Prodigy and GE Lunar iDXA) dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) systems.
Methods:
Subjects were a multiethnic sample of 99 healthy adult males (47%) and females (mean+/-SD: age, 46.3+/-16.9 yr; weight, 73.4+/-16.6 kg; height, 167.6+/-9.7 cm; body mass index, 26.0+/-5.2 kg/m2) who had whole-body scans performed within a 3-h period on the 3 systems. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis that the mean values for the 3 systems were equal. Translation equations between the methods were derived using regression techniques.
Results:
Bone mineral content (BMC): For both genders, total BMC by iDXA was lower (p
Conclusion:
For estimation of BMC and body composition, there was high agreement between all DXA systems (R2=0.85-0.99). Even so, cross-calibration equations should be used to examine data across systems to avoid erroneous conclusions.
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