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Obesity and Medical Imaging

Published on July 13, 2023

Lori Boxer
Weight★No★More℠ Diet Center

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As a result of many comorbidities (type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and other diseases including cancer), patients with obesity are more likely to present for health assessment than their normal weight peers and are more likely, and more often, to require medical imaging.
 
Exams considered simple to perform on average sized patients brings challenges to radiologists for obese patients. With difficulty and precision, medical imaging specialists have to position the patient so the thinnest fat layer is closest to the image receptor. The increased subcutaneous fat thickness 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 makes the treatments less accurate. This can lead to the requirement for repeated images and frustrations for radiographers when trying to achieve an image of sufficient quality to make a diagnosis.
 
This is why patients with obesity experience a greater radiation burden for radiographic imaging compared to their optimal weight counterparts.