Medical computer software for Echocardiography

The software for the calculation of the Surface Area of the Body

In physiology and medicine, the body surface area (BSA) is the measured or calculated surface of a human body. For many clinical purposes the BSA is a better indicator of metabolic mass than body weight because it is less affected by abnormal adipose mass. Estimation of the BSA is simpler than many measures of volume.

The BSA is a measurement used in many medical tasks. Renal function is measured by the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) which is calculated in rearg to the BSA. The cardiac index is a measure of cardiac output divided by the BSA, giving a better approximation of the required cardiac output. Chemotherapy and pharmacotherapies are often dosed according to the patient's BSA. Glucocorticoid dosing is also expressed in terms of BSA for calculating maintenance doses or to compare high dose use with maintenance requirement. And so on.

A number of different formulas have been developed over the years to calculate the BSA and they give slightly different results. We have developed freeware software the BSAcalc for the calculation of the of the Surface Area of the Body of the patient. The distinctive feature of the BSAcalc is that it has a large selection of formulas for the calculation. Simple convenient user interface.

These latest updates to the BSAcalc include new feature. You can also calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) now. Body Mass Index is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity in adults. BMI is defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (kg/m2). BMI has been used by the World Health Organization as the standard for recording obesity statistics since the early 1980s. BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

REFERENCES

1. Mosteller RD: Simplified Calculation of Body Surface Area. N Engl J Med 1987 Oct 22;317(17):1098 (letter).
2. DuBois D; DuBois EF: A formula to estimate the approximate surface area if height and weight be known. Arch Int Med 1916 17:863-71.
3. Haycock G.B., Schwartz G.J.,Wisotsky D.H. Geometric method for measuring body surface area: A height weight formula validated in infants, children and adults. The Journal of Pediatrics 1978 93:1:62-66.
4. Gehan EA, George SL, Estimation of human body surface area from height and weight. Cancer Chemother Rep 1970 54:225-35.
5. Boyd E, The growth of the surface area of the human body. Minneapolis: university of Minnesota Press, 1935. (from: Reading BD, Freeman B. Simple formula for the surface area of the body and a simple model for anthropometry. Clin Anat. 2005 Mar;18(2):126-30).
6. Fujimoto S, Watanabe T, Sakamoto A, Yukawa K, Morimoto K. Studies on the physical surface area of Japanese. 18. Calculation formulae in three stages over all ages. Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi 1968;5:443-50.
7. Reading BD, Freeman B. Simple formula for the surface area of the body and a simple model for anthropometry. Clin Anat. 2005 Mar;18(2):126-30.

The new version!

You may download the BSAcalc (v. 1.4).

You can ask any questions by e-mail. It is desirable in English or Russian.

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