Preparing for a DEXA scan

I am an x-ray tech. I also have had dexa training. An ap view of your hip and lumbar spine view is taken. A zipper unless covering the area being x-rayed should be ok but I have my patients in a gown so there is nothing in the way of the lumbar Spine and hip joint. If the zipper was not on top of the ap l-spine or hip hoint when taking x‐ray it should have been ok. Next time where a gown.

So i had a zipper and a button that is metal where i zip up the jeans. 👖would that interfere with my spine xray? Or not? Because when i am lying down the zipper would be directly on top of my lower back?? Thanks in advance for replying. Just trying to figure out if i should do a rescan.

You probably have access to the actual DEXA scan image in your electronic health record. I can see mine - my spine, and each hip scan. If there was interference it would probably be viewable on the image, like a dense light zipper shape.

Shelldct1,

I had a fall last October and ended up with a broken hand. When the ER x-rays were ordered, I requested that my hips/femur be included as I landed quite hard on my left side.

When I was on the table, the technician asked me if I had any metal in my clothing, hmmm . . . I was wearing drawstring pants with metal eyelets in the front. He asked me to pull them down to my knees (I was wearing a gown). When he went back to the "guard house" to snap the x-ray, he again asked me if I had anything metal in my clothing as he could see what looked like a zipper. Turns out it was a tiny (described as the size of a grain of rice) metal clip that was installed during a polypectomy but hadn't yet fallen out. The x-rays see everything ;).

I agree that you should be able to see if there's anything weird in the DEXA images. You might try asking the doc who ordered the DEXA for some clarification about the zipper factor.

Enjoy the day! Cheers!