What is Advanced Body Composition® Assessment?
An Advanced Body Composition® exam is a quick, low dose X-ray exam that measures the three main tissues of the human body: fat, lean mass, and bone. It may help your health professional assess what level of exercise or intervention is needed to maintain a good ratio between fat and lean muscle mass.
Who is it suitable for?
An Advanced Body Composition® assessment is suitable for people on weight management programs as well as athletes in training.
It is also used for monitoring certain diseases such as Sarcopenia and Lipodystrophy and the effects of some medical therapies.
For those on weight management programs, the results may help determine your risk of developing obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and osteoarthritis. The exam precisely measures how much fat is present and where the fat is distributed in the body.
Knowing where the fat is located may make a considerable difference in health outcomes.
Too much fat around abdominal organs such as the liver, for instance, can be much worse than excess fat just under the skin as it contributes more greatly to obesity-related diseases.
An Advanced Body Composition® assessment is also commonly used as a measurement tool by athletes in training or rehabilitation to monitor neuromuscular changes and the effects of physical training over time. The results will show how your lean mass and fat is distributed to help you put yourself on the road to success. Ask your healthcare professional if Advanced Body Composition® is suitable for you.
Preparing for an Advanced Body Composition® Assessment.
- Unless instructed otherwise, eat normally on the day of the exam; but avoid taking calcium supplements for at least 24 hours prior to your appointment.
- Wear comfortable clothing without zippers, buttons or any metal.
- You should not have had a barium study, radioisotope injection, oral or intravenous contrast material from a CT scan or MRI within seven days prior to your Advanced Body Composition® assessment.
What to expect during your exam.
A whole body composition scan can take as little as 3 minutes.
During your exam, you will lie comfortably on a padded table while the DXA unit, an X-ray system, quickly scans your body. Radiation exposure during this exam is extremely low and involves no injections, invasive procedures or pain.*
Our patients come first.
Because our primary goal has always been to deliver the highest quality care to our patients, we have added Advanced Body Composition® assessment to our practice.
We have chosen the Horizon® DXA system by Hologic as we believe it offers the best technology available. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment.
