degenerative osteoarthritis and the relationship between what you see (or don’t see) on x-rays or mri, to pain
DEGENERATION, PAIN, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WHAT SHOWS UP ON DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING (X-RAY / CT / MRI) A few days ago, JAMA Internal Medicine (one of the many journals put out by the American Medical Association) published an article titled Low-Value Health Care Services in a Commercially Insured Population. It was filed under under the […]
tell me again why you want an mri?
THINKING ABOUT SPRINGING FOR AN MRI? CONTROL YOUR EXPECTATIONS “MRI is unnecessarily overused. In a study of 221 patients who had MRIs, the results showed that only 5.9% actually needed to have an MRI done. The remaining 94.1% of the patients sacrificed their time and money. What’s worse is that the use of MRI for […]
ct scans dramatically increase chances of cancer
To CT or Not to CT: The Potential Relationship Between CT Scans and Cancer We’ve all been conditioned to believe that advanced imaging technologies such as Computer Axial Tomography (CAT Scan — aka CT Scan, X-ray CT, PET SCAN, etc) which have been around since the 1970’s, are safe. But is this true? And if […]
problems with diagnostic imaging
ANOTHER INSTANCE OFDIAGNOSTIC OVERLOAD Hioahelsefag – Oslo/Norway – Pixabay Overdiagnosis is an expected part of any screening program….. Part of a recent statement by the American College of Radiology (ACR) I want to start out today’s post with a story. It’s about a person I knew very well, who, because of their family health history, […]
too many low back mri’s deemed “unnecessary”
HUGE NUMBERS OF LUMBAR MRI’S NOT APPROPRIATE Although I wrote about this problem of MRI OVERUSE a couple of years ago, it bears repeating —- especially when a brand new study from this month’s issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine is rehashing this concept themselves. A recent issue of MedPage […]
medical doctors overuse mri’s — part ii
OVERUSING ADVANCED IMAGING TO MAKE MORE MONEY?NAH, SURELY NOT? Julian Jürgens, Universitätsklinikum Magdeburg The purpose of YESTERDAY’S BLOG was not to say that every MRI produces negative or false positive results. Nor was it to say that MRI’s are never warranted. The truth of the matter is that sometimes MRI’s are necessary to diagnose various […]
medcial doctors overuse mri’s — part i
TOO MANY MRI’S & CT SCANS? THE EVIDENCE SAYS “WAY TOO MANY”(Especially if the Doctor owns the Imaging Facility!) Photo by Tomáš Vendiš What does the average patient think they know about MRI’s & CT Scans? They know what they have heard parroted by the medical community. When X-rays don’t show the reason for your […]