Key features that make the GE Lunar iDXA ideal for patients and practices today
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to overemphasize the benefits of the Lunar iDXA with CoreScan, GE’s flagship dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry system.
Combating metabolic diseases, caring for an aging population, and addressing growing obesity rates requires the best technology medicine can offer. The Lunar iDXA with CoreScan is that technology. It is possibly the ultimate health machine.
GE’s state-of-the-art densitometer stands ready to make a real and immediate positive impact on patients and health practices today and promises to be an enduring platform for many years to come.
This guide provides an overview of the array of features in the Lunar iDXA. But it’s more than a glimpse of the Lunar iDXA’s power. It’s also a glimpse into the future of healthcare. As we’re about to see, it’s a future that is available today.
Best in Body Composition — Bar None
Many people continue to rely on weight scales and body mass index (BMI) calculations to gauge their health. Time and again, however, studies find nothing as effective as body composition examinations offered by machines such as the Lunar iDXA.
The Lunar iDXA provides the gold standard of body composition testing. It quantifies with remarkable precision a patient’s:
- Fat mass
- Lean mass
- Bone density
Tens of millions of people report using health apps each year. But the evidence suggests such use is not moving the needle on the nation’s health.
User abandonment of such apps is a problem. One study found that the top reason respondents stopped using the apps was that entering data into them proved to be too demanding. It required too much effort to use them every day.
Even with multiple scans over a 12-month period, a body composition scan is less demanding than a smartphone health app. This ease of access and consistent use may translate to noticeable diet, exercise, and lifestyle progress.
The Pitfalls of Visceral Fat
With links to metabolic diseases and insulin resistance, a complete picture of a body’s visceral fat can help make dramatic inroads toward improved health. That’s because visceral fat creates health risks unlike any other kind of fat.
Just a short list of some of the health problems associated with excess visceral fat reads like a rogues gallery of some of today’s most debilitating issues:
- Heart attacks
- Heart disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Elevated blood pressure
- Stroke
- Breast and colorectal cancer
- Alzheimer’s disease
Even among people who register a “normal” BMI, visceral fat is strongly linked to an increased risk of death. That’s a risk subcutaneous fat doesn’t carry.
For many people, visceral fat is a severe threat hiding in plain sight. The Lunar iDXA with CoreScan quantifies visceral fat. In doing so, it’s a useful tool in managing various cardiometabolic diseases.
Determining Bone Density Health
In an aging population, a broken bone means more than a trip to the hospital and an itchy cast. One study found that women ages 65–69 who break a hip are five times more likely to die within a year than women of the same age who don’t break a hip. Helping patients maintain bone health has always been important; with today’s aging population, the matter is sure to reach unprecedented levels of awareness and urgency.
In the fight against bone health degradation, the iDXA is in rarefied air thanks to:
- High-resolution images that bring essential details into sharp focus. That includes all skeletal sites such as vertebral endplates, intervertebral spaces, and proximal femur details.
- Edge detection that delivers best-in-class accuracy and reproducibility of bone mineral density results.
- The ability to detect notably high density for outstanding measurement accuracy.
An effective bone density assessment requires subtracting soft tissue values. This ensures that only bone mineral density (BMD) is measured. That means the entire body must be considered: not just the bone, but lean tissue and fat, too. The alternative is a less accurate assessment calibrated to average patients. To achieve an accurate assessment, the Lunar iDXA features six points of calibration:
- Normal,
- Osteopenic, and
- Osteoporotic BMD values.
Plus:
- Lean,
- Normal, and
- Obese values.
Those six points of calibration help the Lunar iDXA provide the clinical confidence necessary to guide patients to better health accurately.
Bone Health Helpers
Related to DEXA’s bone density capabilities — but worthy of a separate spotlight — are FRAX and TBS.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX). FRAX makes a valued complement to DEXA’s bone density capabilities. A brief series of questions designed to evaluate fracture risk in patients, FRAX effortlessly weaves into an efficient DEXA scan process.
- The trabecular bone score (TBS) is similarly beneficial. TBS utilizes information provided by a DEXA scan to gauge the structural condition of a patient’s bone microarchitecture. The contribution of sarcopenia (muscle loss) to fall scenarios within our aging population elevates the importance of TBS for clinical purposes.
FRAX and TBS demonstrate that the Lunar iDXA — while a powerful device — needn’t exist in a diagnostic vacuum but can contribute to a valuable array of tools and approaches.
Accommodations for Anxious Patients
Colonoscopies, prostate exams, breast exams. People avoid these and other life-saving procedures every day. They do so because of temporary discomfort and fear. “Fear of bad news, fear of an uncomfortable test, fear of discussing something intimate,” as The New York Times put it.
While there’s no component to the Lunar iDXA that eliminates those issues, there are several aspects of the device that can help combat them.
The Lunar iDXA is:
- Swift (both in the testing and reporting), accurate, and — perhaps most importantly for some — non-invasive. Patients aren’t even required to remove clothing. (Loose clothing is recommended, and anything metal is prohibited).
- Accessible by patients of up to 450 pounds.
- Straightforward; the clarity and specificity of reports generated by the iDXA may help combat patient non-compliance.
A Straightforward Four Steps
The iDXA Lunar makes for an efficient patient workflow:
- Sign in for the appointment (which do not need to be longer than 15 minutes thanks to the speed of the scan itself)
- Scan with the iDXA Lunar
- Study the results
- Share the findings (with a short report provided in full color) and a plan to address them
While the “A” in iDXA doesn’t stand for “accommodating,” such a straightforward process can help reassure hesitant patients who might be ideal candidates for its array of features.
Data You — and Your Patients — Can Use
Our current rate of data creation is approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes per day. (A quintillion has 18 zeroes; a billion has “only” 12 zeroes.)
All that data doesn’t do any good, though, if you cannot access it and put it to good use. That’s where the Lunar iDXA shines, with features such as:
Database access for 40 remote users
You can connect up to 40 remote computers with a common patient database, enabling multiple users to access and analyze vital patient data.
Tools for practice management
The included business reporting tools can help your team efficiently provide exemplary service. Readily view the existing patient population, as well as follow-up on the next site visit.
Automatic reports
The Lunar iDXA’s “Composer” feature provides many pre-generated report formats to make sharing information with patients easier. It also gives you the ability to create custom reports.
Customizable reference populations
The Lunar iDXA can create custom reference populations for comparison to your patients’ results.
Click here for a two-page rundown of the Lunar iDXA’s many features.
Affordable Technology
In a world where weight loss products and programs of questionable efficacy, exercise equipment readymade to serve as glorified laundry racks, and unused gym membership account for tens of billions of dollars in consumer spending, an iDXA Lunar scan not subsidized by insurance is a remarkable value.
A scan costs between $49 and $250, depending on frequency, purpose, and other factors. It’s a bargain compared to the $800 annual cost of a gym membership. (It’s an even bigger bargain when you consider that gym owners only expect consistent use from approximately 18 percent of their members.)
The Lunar iDXA is also affordable from the practice’s perspective. There are insurance carrier hassles to worry about since patients pay directly for body composition scans. And with a population in need of more tools to improve their health, a practice is free to determine the ideal scan cadence per day and week. Revenue generated by the Lunar iDXA can readily cover its expense.
Learn More Today
Complete Medical Services leverages its decades of experience to provide an unparalleled client experience. Our appreciation for the Lunar iDXA is matched only by our dedication to providing the support necessary to ensure as many people today have access to it as possible. If you’re interested in learning more, please contact us today online or via phone at (586) 532-1142
We look forward to hearing from you!
