Body Surface Area (BSA) Calculator
Solution
Height (cm)
170
Weight (kg)
70
Body Surface Area (BSA) is a measurement of the total surface area of the human body. It is a more accurate indicator of metabolic mass than body weight alone and is commonly used in clinical settings to calculate drug dosages, particularly for chemotherapy agents.
This calculator uses the Mosteller formula, which is the most widely used BSA calculation method due to its simplicity and accuracy. The formula only requires height and weight as inputs.
Calculate BSA ↑A patient is 170 cm tall and weighs 70 kg.
BSA = √((170 × 70) / 3600)
BSA = √(11900 / 3600)
BSA = √3.3056 = 1.818 m²
BSA correlates more closely with physiological parameters like cardiac output, blood volume, and renal function than body weight alone. This makes it a better predictor of how the body will process certain medications, particularly narrow therapeutic index drugs.
The Mosteller formula calculates BSA as the square root of (height in cm multiplied by weight in kg, divided by 3600). It was proposed by Dr. R.D. Mosteller in 1987 and is favored for its simplicity while maintaining accuracy comparable to more complex formulas.
Yes, other common formulas include Du Bois & Du Bois (1916), Haycock (1978), and Gehan & George (1970). The Mosteller formula is preferred in most clinical settings because it is simpler to calculate and produces results very close to the more complex formulas.