Americans 'too fat for x-rays'

[Psycho4Bud]

Increasing numbers of Americans are becoming too fat to fit into X-ray machines, US researchers report.
The nation's rising obesity problems mean many citizens are not only too large for scanners but they have too much fat for the rays to penetrate.

Over the past 15 years, the number of failed scans linked to patient obesity has doubled, Radiology journal reports.

The problem is not confined to scanners. UK hospitals have had to make their beds stronger for obese patients.

And airlines are designing aircraft to carry heavier loads because passengers are becoming plumper.

Dr Raul Uppot and colleagues, who work in radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, had noticed that they were seeing more and more patients whose weight prevented them from having medical scans.

He and his team decided to look back at radiology reports between 1989 and 2003 to see the extent of the problem.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5219884.stm

Anybody got a twinkie?:dance:

[weirdo79]

Hey were not *mumf crunch* fat *mumble crunch* were big boned (cartmen voice)

[birdgirl73]

The obesity trend is probably going to make the medical and medical supply industries even richer, but those aren't profits anyone really wants. The too-fat problem is forcing hospitals and other diagnostic/imaging centers to get bigger MRI and CT scanners with tables than can hold more than 300 pounds. X-rays can't penetrate deep levels of fat, so obese people require more rads, which means higher carcinogenic risk. Ordinary beds and surgical tables can't accommodate obese patients. Laparoscopic instruments are having to be made longer. Stethoscopes are being modified to hear better through a deep fat layer. Obesity affects every aspect of medical care anyone can think of.

At the last medical trade show I went to, there was a whole section of new equipment just for hospitals, nursing homes, and rehab units to use for super morbidly obese people. Tubs. Queen-sized gel-padded beds to alleviate pressure wounds. Slings. Double-wide walkers, wheelchairs, toilets, and room chairs. Steel-reinforced beds with special pull-up contraptions above. It was an incredible array of stuff, and the need for these things is growing.

This obesity epidemic is truly scary. They say with the current trend toward obesity in children, the next generation is likely to be the first that won't live longer than its parents did.

[shoi]

these things rlly make me sick, it makes me sad wen ppl think of americans and think of fat ppl, especially living out of the country and all i hear abt america is shit.... ppl SHOULD be living longer and longer not be getting fatter and fatter

i swear if i have a kid, and if aformentionned child is fat then i will not sleep until he/she is not fat

parents should be doing that anyways