Rising number of obese Americans too big for x-rays

WASHINGTON - 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 say.

With 64 per cent of the US 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," Dr Uppot said.

Radiologists have their own term for it when writing up reports: "These images are limited due to body habitus."

Dr 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 and positron emission tomography.

These scans are used to look for tumours, blood clots, broken limbs and other injuries and diseased organs.

"Overall, 7778 or 0.15 per cent 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," Dr Uppot said.

The researchers looked more closely at the records of 200 of the patients, who weighed, on average, 108kg.

"It is a major issue because ... the patient may still have a tumour, the patient may have appendicitis, the patient may have other inflammatory processes," Dr Uppot said.

"This is affecting radiologists all over the country."

Ultrasounds are most affected, Dr Uppot said.

"In an obese person because the ultrasound beam does not get to the organs or get to them adequately enough, we cannot get a picture. It looks like a snowstorm."

- REUTERS