Your Child’s Bone Density (DXA)

Your Child’s DXA scan

Your child is having an DXA scan so that the doctor or healthcare practitioner can either make a diagnosis or monitor your child’s condition and or treatment.

The doctor or healthcare practitioner will have explained how this DXA scan can help improve your child’s diagnosis or monitor your child’s condition.

Patient care is our priority. We ensure that the benefits from your child having the DXA scan and the correct diagnosis or treatment outweigh the very low risk involved with the DXA scan itself.

DXA scans and Radiation

The equipment uses radiation to produce an image.

Radiation can be found all around us in the environment, in soils, in our air and water. We encounter natural background radiation through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

In any one year our exposure will vary depending on where we live, where we have flown to and what we have eaten. For each DXA scan your child has they will receive a very tiny amount of radiation on top of the natural background radiation.

Accompanying your child for their examination

You may be able to accompany your child for their examination.

We may ask you to assist during the examination. This will minimally increase the amount of radiation you receive on top of the natural background radiation you receive annually. This risk is negligible.