Diagnosing the Obese
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America’s obesity epidemic is doing more than increasing the prevalence of certain diseases - it’s also increasing the likelihood of misdiagnosis. That’s because traditional examination systems can’t accommodate patients of varying shapes and sizes. New technology is addressing the trend.
Many obese Americans are too large for most MRI machines – which are becoming an increasingly important tool for detecting breast cancer and other diseases. New open MRIs combine an opening that’s 70 centimeters wide with high field imaging that provide superior images from which to make a diagnosis. Open MRIs should help large patients and those who are claustrophobic.
A recent study conducted by the University of Washington found overweight women were more likely to be called in for further testing following a mammogram and obese women had a 20 percent increased risk for getting a false-positive. Technology like open MRIs should help improve those statistics.
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