© 1973 Oxford University Press
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Use of Miniature Roentgenograms of the Abdomen to Detect Aortic Calcification, Osteoporosis and Other Radiological Abnormalities in an Insured Population
1234Kaiser Foundation Research Institute and Departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Radiology, Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center Oakland, California 94611, U. S. A.
Requests for reprints may be addressed to Dr. Goldsmith, 280 West MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, California 94611.
Miniature roentgenograms of the abdomen were made during multiphasic health examination of 4,681 subjects of three skin colors. Total radiation exposures were computed for an average woman, an average man, and an obese person as 3, 5, and up to 15 r respectively. Aortic calcification was present in 14.6 per cent of this population. White men and women and black men were at almost equally high risk of aortic calcification in the fifth to the seventh decades; orientals were at low risk. Notifiable abnormalities were observed in 1.7 per cent of the 70-mm roentgenograms. Follow-up of 81 cases showed that 78 per cent of these diagnoses could be confirmed, and that 31 per cent were already known; no further action was taken in 59 per cent. On the basis of these results, it was concluded that further use of miniature roentgenography of the abdomen as a screening device for normal persons was unwarranted.