Body Surface Area Calculator
Calculate body surface area (BSA) in m^2 from height and weight using the Mosteller, DuBois, Haycock, or Gehan-George formula for clinical dosing.
Patient details
Body surface area (Mosteller (1987, most common))
1.84 m²
Typical adult BSA is 1.6 to 2.0 m². This result is inside that range.
All four formulas for comparison
- Mosteller
- 1.84 m²
- DuBois & DuBois
- 1.85 m²
- Haycock
- 1.85 m²
- Gehan-George
- 1.85 m²
For information only. Not a substitute for clinical judgement or pharmacist review. Verify dosing against your local protocol.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Body Surface Area Calculator
What is body surface area (BSA)?
Body surface area is the total surface area of the human body, expressed in square meters (m^2). It is used in clinical pharmacology, most often for chemotherapy dosing, because many regimens are written in mg/m^2 and BSA scales more predictably with metabolism than weight alone.
Which BSA formula should I use?
Mosteller (1987) is the most common in adult oncology and is easy to compute at the bedside: sqrt(height_cm times weight_kg divided by 3600). DuBois and DuBois (1916) is the original. Haycock (1978) is often preferred for infants and children. Gehan-George (1970) is sometimes used in research. Follow your institution's protocol.
What is a typical adult BSA?
Most adults fall between 1.6 and 2.0 m^2. The traditional reference adult is around 1.73 m^2. Values outside this range are normal at the extremes of height and weight, but verify them before using them for dosing.
Why do the four formulas give slightly different results?
Each formula was fit to a different patient sample with different anthropometric assumptions. For a 70 kg, 175 cm adult the four results agree to within roughly 1 percent. Differences widen at the extremes (very small children, very large adults), which is why protocols specify a formula.
Is this calculator a substitute for clinical judgement?
No. It is a math tool only. Chemotherapy and other BSA-based dosing decisions also depend on the specific drug, organ function, performance status, capped or banded doses, and pharmacist verification. Always check the result against your local protocol before any clinical use.
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