MRI didn't pick up your problem? Better get a 2nd opinion, according to this piece from the New York Times.
The Scan That Didn’t Scan
By GINA KOLATA
Published: October 13, 2008 NYTimes.com
Excerpts:
This is a story about M.R.I.’s, those amazing scans that can show tissue injury and bone damage, inflammation and fluid accumulation. Except when they can’t and you think they can.
Magnetic resonance machines, though, vary enormously, and not just in the strength of their magnets. Even more important, radiologists say, is the quality of the imaging coils they put around the body part being scanned and the computer programs they use to control the imaging and to analyze the images. And there is a huge variability in skill among the technicians doing the scans.
Dr. Forman said that at the very least, patients should go to radiology centers accredited by the American College of Radiology. But he added that accreditation does not tell you whether your scan will be done with a machine that is several generations removed from the best available today; whether the scanning is programmed to pick up your particular problem; or whether the receiving coil that picks up signals from the magnet is sufficiently sensitive.
Complete article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/health/14scan.html?_r=1&nl=8hlth&emc=hltha1&oref=slogin
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