Regis Philbin
Jul 26th, 2006, 10:43 PM
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-07-25T193345Z_01_N25202592_RTRUKOC_0_US-OBESITY.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
More Americans too fat for X-rays, scans
Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:33pm ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More and more obese people are unable to get full medical care because they are either too big to fit into scanners, or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate, radiologists reported on Tuesday.
With 64 percent of the U.S. population either overweight or obese, the problem is worsening, but it represents a business opportunity for equipment makers and hospitals, said Dr. Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"We noticed over the past couple of years that obesity was playing a role in our ability to see these images clearly," Uppot said in a telephone interview.
Radiologists have their own term for it when writing up reports: "These images are limited due to body habitus."
Uppot's team looked for this phrase in radiology reports from 1989 to 2003. These included standard X-rays, computer assisted X-rays known as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).
These scans are used to look for tumors, blood clots, broken limbs and other injuries and diseased organs.
"Overall, 7,778 or 0.15 percent of 5,253,014 reports were habitus limited," they wrote in the August issue of the journal Radiology.
"It essentially doubled over the last 15 years," Uppot said.
More Americans too fat for X-rays, scans
Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:33pm ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More and more obese people are unable to get full medical care because they are either too big to fit into scanners, or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate, radiologists reported on Tuesday.
With 64 percent of the U.S. population either overweight or obese, the problem is worsening, but it represents a business opportunity for equipment makers and hospitals, said Dr. Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"We noticed over the past couple of years that obesity was playing a role in our ability to see these images clearly," Uppot said in a telephone interview.
Radiologists have their own term for it when writing up reports: "These images are limited due to body habitus."
Uppot's team looked for this phrase in radiology reports from 1989 to 2003. These included standard X-rays, computer assisted X-rays known as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).
These scans are used to look for tumors, blood clots, broken limbs and other injuries and diseased organs.
"Overall, 7,778 or 0.15 percent of 5,253,014 reports were habitus limited," they wrote in the August issue of the journal Radiology.
"It essentially doubled over the last 15 years," Uppot said.