美国科学家发现肥胖会降低影像学检查结果的准确性

体重超标的人群，除了会产生一系列危及健康的危险之外，还会在他们接受影像学检查时降低了正确诊断的机会。

一项最新研究的研究人员报道说：肥胖能够降低影像扫描的准确性以及检查的性能，包括核磁共振与计算机断层扫描检查的形态。在过去十年里，肥胖患者进行影像学检查时候遇到的困难从0.10％～0.19％增加了一倍，而肥胖人数从9％～16％也增加了一倍。

研究人员将这个困难归结于：超声波检查必须穿透身体组织以获得精确影像，而对体重超标的人群就变得更加困难。因此研究人员指出：制造商应当改进设计以及研发新技术，以便在体重超标人群中获得更好的影像检查结果。

马萨诸塞州总医院(Boston, MA, USA)的研究人员在芝加哥举行的北美放射学会2004年年会上报道了这项结果。
 
Obesity May Influence Imaging Diagnosis
 
Overweight individuals, in addition to being at risk for a host of health problems, may also be reducing their chances of being correctly diagnosed during imaging procedures.

Researchers, according to a new study, report that obesity can restrict the accuracy and ability of imaging scanning, including such modalities as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). The number of difficulties with imaging obese individuals almost doubled from 0.10-0.19% in the past decade, which compares with the increase in overweight statistics that have nearly doubled from 9-16%.

The investigators attribute this problem to the fact that ultrasound waves must penetrate through the body tissue to generate an accurate image reading, and this becomes more difficult with heavier individuals. Therefore, the investigators stated that manufacturers need to think about design changes and technologic developments to obtain better imaging in larger patients.

The researchers, from Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA, USA), presented their results at the 2004 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), held in Chicago, IL, USA.