Obesity and medical imaging challenges.

Obesity is a medical and social condition that can affect radiology in a number of ways. Imaging equipment can be too small or limited in capacity. Determining the appropriate dose of contrast material may be difficult because guidelines do not always specify dose ranges for patients with above-average weight. Because longer exposure to radiation may be necessary to image obese patients, patients and radiologic technologists may be at risk for overexposure. Finally, medical image quality can be compromised by obesity, especially with ultrasonography.