What is it about?
A study of 50 patients found no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between chest X-ray and CT scans across BMI categories. Accounting for body habitus did not improve correlation between the two imaging modalities.
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Why is it important?
This study challenges the assumption that body size affects imaging quality, suggesting BMI should not determine whether patients get an X-ray, CT, or both. It implies imaging protocols automatically adjusting radiation exposure by BMI may over-expose patients.
Perspectives
As a clinician, I'm intrigued by these findings. This study implies our protocols may oversimplify the relationship between body habitus and image quality. We should critically examine assumptions that a higher BMI requires higher exposure. Perhaps body fat distribution matters more than BMI alone. This could allow further radiation reductions without sacrificing diagnostic accuracy.
Thomas F Heston MD
University of Washington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Concordance of chest x-ray with chest CT by body mass index, PeerJ, March 2023, PeerJ,
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15090.
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