DEXA Diagnostics paves the way with cutting-edge mobile BMD screening

As a former health club owner and developer, Kip Russo, President of DEXA Diagnostics in Colorado has watched fitness trends come and go. He had been successfully servicing the area’s athletic clubs with a suite of mobile hydrostatic body fat testing laboratories, when he realized that dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) could provide a more accurate measure of body composition than hydrostatic weighing.

The more Kip studied, the more he realized that the need for mobile bone mineral density (BMD) testing was far greater than the demand for body mass measurement, and, in his opinion, a better use of the technology. Once he came to that conclusion he moved quickly to develop a mobile DXA screening service. “When I realized that my body fat testing service was limited here in Denver, which is where I chose to live, it was in January. I had the first bus operational nine months later,” he said.

Russo spent three to four months of that time researching DXA technology, visiting sites that used bone densitometry systems by different manufacturers, even getting scanned himself. “I wanted to get the latest and the greatest and the best,” he said. The best-in-class imaging technology he sought had to be ideally suited for a mobile application. “There are a lot of mobile BMD units out there,” he noted, “but most of them are larger than mine. I wanted one that would facilitate patient comfort and still fit into a conventional parking place because I’m going to doctor’s offices and parking is always an issue.”

The Hologic Discovery bone densitometry system was the system of choice for DEXA Diagnostics

In addition to image quality, reporting, and footprint, service and warranty were critical considerations in choosing the best system for what was to become a high traffic practice. The Hologic Discovery W (whole body) bone densitometry system was Kip’s choice for the first DEXA Diagnostics custom-built 22-foot mobile BMD unit. The W model accurately scans the spine including instant vertebral and aortic calcification assessment, bilateral hips and the whole body for bone density and body composition.

Kip discovered that Hologic’s forward-thinking approach to mobility extended to service when DEXA Diagnostics encountered some surprising technical issues. “We’ve had some unique issues that turned out it to be altitude related – we’re at 6,000 feet,” he said. He describes Hologic’s service organization to be “absolutely the best of the best. I can’t imagine anybody being any better.”