June 22nd, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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Boston Celtics basketball player Kendrick Perkins injured his knee during the NBA Finals against the Lakers when he landed awkwardly. Unable to weightbear, he left Game 6 not to return for the following pivotal Game 7.
Based on his mechanism of injury and his physical examination, his trainer reported that he tore his medial collateral ligament (MCL) as well as the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). More amazingly, this was done without the help of a MRI. Since Perkins was unable to play the final game, there was no urgent medical need to expedite the test, as regardless of the result his season was already done.
How do doctors know what’s wrong without X-ray vision or an imaging test? (Note that Perkins did get a X-ray, but X-rays generally don’t show ligament injuries.) Is it guessing? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
April 25th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Research
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Scientists at Rutgers University are studying the female orgasm using functional MRI (fMRI).
During the experiment, women masturbate with the help of a dildo inside the fMRI machine so the team can study which areas of the brain are activated by arousal.
First they map the cervix, uterus, and clitoris to regions of the brain to create a sort of sexual homunculus. Then the women get ten minutes to stimulate to an orgasm, which is signaled to the researchers by raising a hand. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
April 18th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Research
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Thanks to the wonders of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), amazing images of “heart strings” — the muscle fiber orientation of the left ventricle of the heart — have been obtained. According to the University of Oxford:
The image was produced using a branch of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The technique tracks the diffusion of water throughout the myocardium (the heart’s muscular wall comprising interconnected sheets of muscle cells called myocytes). Due to the way the myocytes are organized, the movement of water is restricted, so tracking the location of water molecules can reveal valuable information about the structure of the heart in a non-invasive way.
Nice.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 2nd, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
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Research scientists at MIT have been studying the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) region of the brain that seems to be involved in judging the behavior of other people. With the help of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the region, they were able to affect the moral conclusions that people reached when analyzing the actions of others.
From MIT news office:
The researchers used a noninvasive technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to selectively interfere with brain activity in the right TPJ. A magnetic field applied to a small area of the skull creates weak electric currents that impede nearby brain cells’ ability to fire normally, but the effect is only temporary.
In one experiment, volunteers were exposed to TMS for 25 minutes before taking a test in which they read a series of scenarios and made moral judgments of characters’ actions on a scale of one (absolutely forbidden) to seven (absolutely permissible). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
March 25th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
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It’s well known that the use of imaging scans, like CTs, MRIs and PET scans, have been growing at an alarming rate. But a recent study provides some stark numbers. According to a recent CDC report, “MRI, CT or PET scans were done or ordered in 14 percent of ER visits in 2007.” That’s four times as often as in 1996. Although a physician called that growth “astounding,” it’s really no surprise.
Emergency departments are becoming more crowded, and with patient satisfaction scores becoming more influential in financial incentives for physicians, sometimes just ordering a test is the path of least resistance. Factor in the spector of defensive medicine which, according to a survey from the Massachusetts Medical Society, accounts for up to 28 percent of tests ordered, it’s a wonder that more scans weren’t ordered.
Imaging scans are a clear cost driver in healthcare, contributing $12 billion to Medicare’s bill. But costs won’t resonate with patients requesting the tests or the doctors ordering them. One encouraging sign is the recent trend of publicizing the harms of scans, like radiation from CTs. I’m finding that patients are becoming increasingly aware of the risk, and making a more informed decision after I explain it to them. It’s a small step forward.
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
Boston Celtics basketball player Kendrick Perkins injured his knee during the NBA Finals against the Lakers when he landed awkwardly. Unable to weightbear, he left Game 6 not to return for the following pivotal Game 7.
