BMD / DXA reporting quality

Report what is valid. Escalate what is not.

A compact, source-linked reporting checklist for DXA acquisition validity, fracture-risk-report content and follow-up transparency.

Measurement validity

Start with the sites that can support reporting. Do not enter values or ask non-material questions here.

Is the PA lumbar spine usable for BMD reporting?

Is a valid hip BMD available?

Limitations and report type

Make a limitation visible rather than inferring whether a site can be used.

Is there a prosthesis, artefact, structural change, or other factor that could confound a reported BMD result?

Is this a baseline or follow-up report?

Fracture-risk report content

Select the facility workflow; this assistant never calculates a risk result.

Which risk workflow is being reported?

Is prospective height loss greater than 2 cm documented?

Reporting-quality checklist

Complete the material acquisition checks first.

Answer only the available reporting facts. The assistant will flag source-supported report content and boundaries, not generate a diagnostic category, fracture risk, or treatment plan.

Source-linked reporting prompts

Include indication, instrument manufacturer/model, scanned skeletal sites/ROI and side where relevant, BMD in g/cm², and T-score and/or Z-score where appropriate.
Keep diagnostic wording separate from fracture-risk and management decisions; this checklist does not generate a diagnosis or treatment recommendation.

Where local judgment begins

Technical acceptability, site exclusion and any local acquisition protocol.
Resolution of uncertain clinical risk factors, including fracture classification.
Diagnostic wording, risk calculation, management advice and the choice of any additional imaging.

ISCD Adult Official Positions · 2023CAR BMD reporting update · 2024

Evidence register

What governs this draft

Dated primary sources and their role in this draft.

Recommendation wording is condensed for point-of-care use. The dated primary source remains authoritative and must be rechecked before publication or institutional adoption.

CAR BMD updateCAR Practice Guideline on Bone Mineral Densitometry Reporting: 2024 UpdateFormal CAR practice guideline · published 2025

Current Canadian fracture-risk reporting, report transparency, height-loss and local-policy boundaries. This is an update, not a replacement for the technical standard.

Open source ↗CAR technical standardCanadian Association of Radiologists technical standards for bone mineral densitometry reportingTechnical standard · 2013 · explicitly retained by the CAR update

Comprehensive technical and reporting framework that the 2024 update supplements.

Open source ↗ISCD adult positionsISCD 2023 Adult Official PositionsInternational technical reference · 2023

Valid skeletal-site, artefact, hip, forearm, comparison, LSC and VFA-reporting boundaries used as labelled technical prompts.

Open source ↗