Patients are too fat for X-rays !!!!!!!!!
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:19 pm
Source: timesonline
An increasing number of Americans are unable to get full medical care because they are too obese to fit into scanners or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate, research by radiologists suggests.
With 64 per cent of the population overweight, the problem is worsening, Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said.
“We noticed over the past couple of years that obesity was playing a role in our ability to see these images clearly,” he said.
Dr UppotÂ’s team reviewed radiology reports from 1989 to 2003. These included standard X-rays, CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography.
Imprecise images caused by obesity have doubled over the past 15 years, and ultrasound images are affected the most.
Dr Uppot said: “I don’t know if you have seen those televisions where it is just whiteout? It looks like that.” (Reuters)
An increasing number of Americans are unable to get full medical care because they are too obese to fit into scanners or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate, research by radiologists suggests.
With 64 per cent of the population overweight, the problem is worsening, Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said.
“We noticed over the past couple of years that obesity was playing a role in our ability to see these images clearly,” he said.
Dr UppotÂ’s team reviewed radiology reports from 1989 to 2003. These included standard X-rays, CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography.
Imprecise images caused by obesity have doubled over the past 15 years, and ultrasound images are affected the most.
Dr Uppot said: “I don’t know if you have seen those televisions where it is just whiteout? It looks like that.” (Reuters)
