title: Body weight limitations of United States cardiac catheterization laboratories including restricted access for the morbidly obese.
abstract: A telephone survey was performed to determine the current weight limits of cardiovascular catheterization laboratories (n = 94) in the United States. The minimum, mean, and maximum weight limits of the catheterization laboratories in this survey were 160, 198.9, and 250 kg (350, 437.5, and 550 lb), respectively. Twenty-two percent of respondents (n = 21) referred to other institutions when asked what they did when patients were too heavy, and 70% of respondents (n = 66) could not provide an answer. In this population, 5.2 +/- 3.4 patients/hospital/year were rejected for being over the weight limit. In conclusion, these results provide useful information for the future management of this growing population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA. tvanhecke@gmail.com
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Vanhecke
authors.forename: Aaron D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McCullough
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009767:Obesity, Morbid; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States