Influence of Different DXA Acquisition Modes on Monitoring the Changes in Bone Mineral Density After Hip Resurfacing Arthroplasty

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is a technique enabling the measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) around prostheses after hip resurfacing arthroplasty (HRA). In this study, we evaluated the consistency of different DXA acquisition modes with 33 patients who had undergone HRA. Patients were scanned with DXA immediately after surgery and at 3-, 6-, and 12-mo time points. All the patients were scanned with dual femur and orthopedic hip acquisition modes and analyzed using 10-region ROI model. With both acquisition modes, a statistically significant decrease (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon's test) in BMD at 3 mo was revealed in 3 ROIs, located to upper and lateral upper femur. Both acquisition modes detected similarly (p < 0.01) preservation of the femoral bone stock within 12 mo in all but 1 ROI. The applied acquisition protocols involved the use of different footplates for hip fixation. Because the differences between acquisition modes ranged between +1.6% and −7.1% and the reproducibility of BMD values can vary by as much as 28% due to hip rotation, it is proposed that both dual femur and orthopedic hip acquisition modes can be used to monitor the changes in BMD after HRA. However, the same hip rotation is recommended for all DXA measurements.