Post by landofconfusion on Dec 13, 2014 15:29:19 GMT -6
I just had a debate on Twitter with a chiropractor who recently wrote a blog post denouncing widespread MRI & CT use for back pain. I understand that most people will not have a spinal tumor in their findings, but for those of us who *have* had that diagnosis, what prompted your doctor to order the MRI? I'm just curious.
When I pointed out to the chiropractor that my very rare spinal tumor was found via an MRI, he stated that MRI's should only be used due to the doctor's clinical exam concerns and not "fear of liability or just because." In his blog post, he mentioned that bulging disks were a common finding and he wouldn't change his treatment plan based on a finding of such disks. I pointed out that bulging disks & spinal tumors often have precisely the same symptoms and that my doctor could never have guessed I'd have such a rare tumor.
In my case, I went to a dedicated spinal center after having dealt with sporadic back pain all of my adult life. The doctor there ordered what I presume to be a routine MRI after doing an x-ray (which they did for all of their patients, as far as I could tell). I don't think anything in my symptom record made him consider a spinal tumor. In fact, he failed to see it on the MRI film and he hadn't even opened my radiology report at the time of my follow-up appointment. It took me asking for a copy of my radiology report for him to open that envelope and see the first line indicated an intradural spinal tumor. At that point, he downplayed the whole thing... called it a "just a cyst" that he didn't think was worth mentioning... and I left in a state of shock & confusion and never went back to him for obvious reasons.
As politicians, doctors & insurance companies try to decide how to keep medical costs down, there be fewer patients sent for MRI scans? It seem entirely possible to me. I just want to make sure that our voice is heard in the medical community. We have all benefited from MRI images on this board and I hope that future spinal tumor patients will have the same ability to get correctly diagnosed. As I told the chiropractor, "I realize my case is the proverbial zebra in a herd of horses. But we zebras do exist & deserve to be correctly diagnosed."
What are your thoughts?
When I pointed out to the chiropractor that my very rare spinal tumor was found via an MRI, he stated that MRI's should only be used due to the doctor's clinical exam concerns and not "fear of liability or just because." In his blog post, he mentioned that bulging disks were a common finding and he wouldn't change his treatment plan based on a finding of such disks. I pointed out that bulging disks & spinal tumors often have precisely the same symptoms and that my doctor could never have guessed I'd have such a rare tumor.
In my case, I went to a dedicated spinal center after having dealt with sporadic back pain all of my adult life. The doctor there ordered what I presume to be a routine MRI after doing an x-ray (which they did for all of their patients, as far as I could tell). I don't think anything in my symptom record made him consider a spinal tumor. In fact, he failed to see it on the MRI film and he hadn't even opened my radiology report at the time of my follow-up appointment. It took me asking for a copy of my radiology report for him to open that envelope and see the first line indicated an intradural spinal tumor. At that point, he downplayed the whole thing... called it a "just a cyst" that he didn't think was worth mentioning... and I left in a state of shock & confusion and never went back to him for obvious reasons.
As politicians, doctors & insurance companies try to decide how to keep medical costs down, there be fewer patients sent for MRI scans? It seem entirely possible to me. I just want to make sure that our voice is heard in the medical community. We have all benefited from MRI images on this board and I hope that future spinal tumor patients will have the same ability to get correctly diagnosed. As I told the chiropractor, "I realize my case is the proverbial zebra in a herd of horses. But we zebras do exist & deserve to be correctly diagnosed."
What are your thoughts?
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