Hospitals are not purchasing larger MRI machines for obese patients, but rather choosing for machines with better diagnostic features. Want an MRI, be sure you are less than 350# is the obvious answer here. BD
When Dr. Susannah Cornes' patient came in with paralysis and numbness, she wanted an MRI to look at the spinal cord. But the machine couldn't handle someone of her patient's size -- more than 350 pounds.
Absent that option, Cornes, a UCSF resident in neurology, recommended exploratory surgery. The patient declined, choosing instead to live with the numbness and limited movement.
When the opportunity to buy a new machine comes up, hospitals opt for machines that give better images rather than systems that handle larger patients. And that rankles some people.
The average CT is of no use for people who weigh more than 450 pounds, and most MRIs can't handle people who weigh more than 350 pounds. With both machines, the table that carries the patient into a small tunnel, or bore, where the images are taken can't support the weight. In some cases, the bore is too small.
BAY AREA / Hospitals flummoxed by patients too big for MRI machines
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