In people with severe obesity, x-rays require the use of more x-rays, which increases the risk of developing cancer.
Severely obese people require a much higher dose of radiation during X-ray examinations than people of normal weight due to the increased amount of tissue to be imaged. Radiation that increases the risk of cancer, as revealed by new research by British scientists. Their results were published in the Journal of Radiological Protection.
A risk of developing cancer more than twice as high
The researchers studied 630 obese patients who had been exposed to X-rays between 2007 and 2015. These patients had a body mass index of up to 50, a sign of severe obesity, with a weight almost twice as high as that. than it should be for their size. They had all undergone bariatric surgeries such as gastric banding, gastric sleeves or gastric bypass surgery at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, England.
The team of scientists discovered that these patients received much higher doses of radiation during the X-ray than people who are not overweight, due to the increased amount of tissue to be imaged. The study concluded that the risk of developing cancer from the extra radiation is more than twice as high (153%). Nevertheless, the risk of developing cancer from x-rays remains low. In 2015-2016, 22.6 million x-ray procedures were carried out in England, resulting in 280 cancers.
Further research
To create an X-ray image, radiographers shoot photons of rays through the body. The dose varies according to the part of the body and the size of the patient: the greater their build, the higher the dose of photons required. And the higher it is, the more likely it is to damage cells in the patient’s body.
“X-rays are an extremely important diagnostic tool and radiographers do everything possible to minimize risk to patients,” says Karen Knapp, professor of musculoskeletal imaging who supervised the study. However, further extensive research is needed to “understand how to minimize doses for these people and incorporate much more rigorous radiation guidelines to minimize the risk,” she added.
Do not scare patients
There are currently no guidelines on how to minimize radiation doses in obese patients. “Apart from the radiation doses delivered to the patient, many technical factors contribute to the image quality of an X-ray,” says Saeed Al-Qahtani, lead author of the study. “We have already started working on this topic in order to create predictive models that allow radiographers to choose the best possible technical support depending on the size of the patient.”
The researchers don’t want these results to scare off people who need to use X-rays. “says Richard Welbourn, a bariatric surgeon at Musgrove Park Hospital. “With two-thirds of the UK population either overweight or obese, the findings show how important it is to implement strategies to avoid putting these people at increased risk.”
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