title: Reproducibility of fan-beam DXA measurements in adults and phantoms.
abstract: As part of a multicenter study, we examined the intersite reproducibility of bone mineral content (BMC) and areal density (BMD) among three fan-beam dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) instruments from one manufacturer, all using the same software version. Spine, femur, and body-composition phantoms were each scanned nine times at each center. Over a 3-wk period, the same 10 adults were scanned once at each of the three centers. For the spine and femur phantoms, the precision errors were 0.3-0.7%. For the body-composition phantom, the precision errors were 0.8-2.8%. The intersite coefficients of variation for the human measurements varied from 1.1 to 6.8%, depending on the bone site. We conclude that even when using the same fan-beam DXA model and software, an intersite cross-comparison using only phantoms may be inadequate. Comparisons based solely on the use of a spine phantom are insufficient to ensure compatibility of human bone mineral data at other bone sites or for the whole body.
authors.affiliation: Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. kellis@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Roman S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Shypailo
authors.forename: Francene M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology