Body Mass Index and Abdominal Ultrasound Image Quality: A Pilot Survey of Sonographers

The objective was to assess the consensus among sonographers that the quality of abdominal ultrasound (US) images is related to the patient’s body mass index (BMI). Fourteen sonographers completed a 12-item questionnaire to evaluate their experience with abdominal US imaging with respect to image quality in correlation with the patient’s adipose tissue. Of the sonographers sampled, 85.7% agreed that there is an association between the amount of adipose tissue on a patient’s abdomen and the quality of US image obtained; 85.7% also agreed that a normal BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 provides the best US image. However, only 28.6% agreed that normal amounts of adipose tissue produce poor image quality. There appears to be agreement among sonographers that BMI is a factor in obtaining good quality abdominal US images. The general consensus was that the best abdominal US images were obtained in patients with normal BMI, whereas images obtained from patients with BMI 30.0 to 34.9 and to a lesser extent BMI 25.0 to 29.9 were limited in quality.