Evaluating the Relationship of Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference on the Image Quality of Abdominal Computed Radiography

Abstract

Body sizes of patients undergoing x-ray examination vary in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between BMI and WC on the image quality of abdominal computed radiography (CR). Anteroposterior supine abdomen projection was conducted on 69 patients from Hospital Raja Perempuan Bainun, Ipoh using a Siemens Multixtop general x-ray unit, and the images were processed with CR Carestream Direct view Max. Samples were categorised into normal BMI (n = 23), overweight (n = 23) and obese (n = 23). Image quality was measured quantitatively in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and qualitatively by visual grading analysis (VGA) based on the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) image criteria. Data were analysed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's correlation for comparison and determining the relationship among BMI, WC and image quality. Results showed a significant difference (p < 0.01) in image quality of

Radiation dose and image quality optimization in lumbar spine digital radiography for overweight and obese patients: Phantom study

“…16,17 The WC is a more suitable and simple body measurement method for obese patients than body mass index (BMI) because high WC reveals that patients have high central obesity. 18 For dose measurement, results showed that the radiation dose delivered to patients by DAP measurement was suitable, and provided a good estimate of the total radiation energy delivered during a procedure, being directly related to the amount of radiation produced by the X-ray tube. 19 Our results showed DAP reduction when using high kVp, concurring with previous research reporting that DAP decreased at higher kV and copper filtration.…”

Imaging individuals with obesity

“…In studies with phantoms, the distribution of adipose tissue at the anatomical area of interest was an important factor in determining the resultant image quality [42][43][44][45] . In their study with a pelvis phantom, Ismail et al, [44] reported a higher negative correlation (r = -0.83, p < 0.01) between the waist circumference and the image quality for abdominal images compared to that of the BMI and image quality (r = -0.73, p < 0.01).…”

“…In studies with phantoms, the distribution of adipose tissue at the anatomical area of interest was an important factor in determining the resultant image quality [42][43][44][45] . In their study with a pelvis phantom, Ismail et al, [44] reported a higher negative correlation (r = -0.83, p < 0.01) between the waist circumference and the image quality for abdominal images compared to that of the BMI and image quality (r = -0.73, p < 0.01). To penetrate the increased anatomical area thickness, MRPs usually adopt higher exposure factors which result in decreased SNR, increased motion artifacts due to the long exposure times, increased entrance skin dose and scatter radiation which degrade the overall image quality [17] .…”