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Few imaging scanners can handle obese patients, researcher says

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 18, 2008 at 11:11 a.m.
Updated November 18, 2008 at 11:11 a.m.

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The health problems of obese people aren't funny, and neither are the suggestions that they use MRIs meant for hippopotamuses, says a Colorado researcher.

Less than one in 10 MRIs and CT scans in the nation can handle people who weigh more than 450 lbs., Dr. Adit Ginde has discovered.

Urban legends abound about extremely large people getting Computed Tomography scans or Magnetic Resonance Imaging at zoos, so Ginde decided to find out what diagnostic tools are available nationwide for people who weigh 350 lbs. or 450 lbs.

"Because of the growing obesity epidemic, there are now more individuals larger than 350 pounds," said Ginde, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. "And these people tend to have more medical emergencies than others."

In 1985, not a single state had an adult obesity rate of more than 20 percent, and most states were in the 10 percent range, according to the Centers for Disease Control..

Last year, Colorado was the only state in the nation that had an obesity rate of less than 20 percent. The typical state had about a 28 percent obesity rate.

CT scans and MRIs are essential diagnostic tools to search for strokes, infections in the abdomen, lung disease, ligament damage, blood clots in the lungs and a host of other maladies. "They really are the gold standard tests," Ginde said.

"We have patients who come in whose weight exceeds the capacity of the machines, or whose girth is wider than the (diameter of the) gantry," he said.

Ginde surveyed random Emergency Rooms around the country and found out that:

— Just 10 percent of CT scans and 8 percent of MRIs can handle patients who weigh more than 450 lbs.

— Just 35 percent of MRIs and 75 percent of CT scans can handle patients who weight more than 350 pounds.

And the zoos?

"It sounds sort of cruel, but it is something that comes up all the time," Ginde said. "Zoos and veterinary clinics get calls every week" about using their equipment for obese people, he said.

So, he surveyed all the zoos and veterinarian schools in the nation.

"We found that only 1 percent of zoos had CT scanners at all," he said. "And neither of them said they would image human patients."

About 15 percent of the veterinarian schools had scanners, "but almost all of them said they had policies prohibiting human patients because there were medical and legal issues about them not being licensed."

So, except for one or two isolated cases, no human has ever been scanned by a machine meant for animals.

And only a small minority of hospital MRIs and CT scans can handle very obese people.

The study appears in this month's issue of the Obesity journal.

"We even see it here" in Colorado, one of the leanest states in the nation, he said. "It's more of a problem in the south and Midwest. There are more very morbidly obese patients who can't get the health care they require."

Certainly, a long-range goal should be to reduce the obesity epidemic, Ginde said.

"But in the short-term the obesity epidemic is not going away."

So, he advocates that every large metro area acquire one or two CT scans and MRIs that have strong enough tables and wide enough diameters to support the morbidly obese.

Zoos have proven that the technology is available to handle 2,000-lb. bodies. And there are some hospitals that have scanners with 680-lb. weight limits, just not enough of them, he said.

"It's not that every hospital has to have one," he said. "But there should be one within a reasonable radius" of population centers. It's a better solution than "trying to call around to zoos and waste time on something that is not going to work."

Obesity centers that specialize in, say, gastric bypass surgery also should be given incentives to acquire the bolstered equipment, he said.

The morbidly obese are stuck in the 1970s — the era before the widespread use of CT scans — in terms of diagnosis for their health problems, he said.

"They're left with very limited information. Doctors have to decide whether to institute a potentially high-risk treatment without a lot of high-tech information.

"They are putting at risk patients who may not even have the disease."

Comments

  • November 18, 2008

    12:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    c4l2a0 writes:

    Survival of the fittest. Maybe these fat a**es should pray to loose weight....

  • November 18, 2008

    12:04 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    c4l2a0 writes:

    sorry, that was a horrible way to put that. I should have said "they should pray that they lose weight....."

  • November 18, 2008

    12:59 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    LadyBird112 writes:

    I liked the intro sentence, as though the article is just daring us to make jokes. That's gotta be an awkward situation, having to go to the zoo to get weighed.

  • November 18, 2008

    1:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    T1anda writes:

    c412 My neighbor lady is one of those..how did you put it..."fat a**es?" She is a wonderful person and is devastated by her obesity..you see, she has an uncontrollable thyroid problem and no amount of medication seems to help her. You are obviously a loving Christian person. Would you try "praying" to your Christian God for her c412. If a God or two is listening, my neighbor certainly needs all the help she can get.

  • November 18, 2008

    1:04 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Jeff writes:

    "Because of the growing obesity epidemic, there are now more individuals larger than 350 pounds," said Ginde, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. "And these people tend to have more medical emergencies than others."

    No diggity, Doc?

  • November 18, 2008

    1:19 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Romanesco writes:

    "...uncontrollable thyroid problem and no amount of medication seems to help her. "

    Right; I bet she eats very healthy, too, and gets plenty of exercise....

  • November 18, 2008

    1:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    c4l2a0 writes:

    T1- I was hoping my sarcasm would be understood. The first part of my post said "survival of the fittest", a clear reference to evolution. I followed it up with the prayer comment. Sorry it wasn't more obvious.