There are many different treatment options for different types of pain, injuries, and disease processes that occur. The problem that many patients encounter is that they focus on the treatment rather than the diagnosis. A study performed at the Mayo Clinic showed that 21% of the time a patient received a different diagnosis after getting a second opinion. When someone is in pain, or their illness is not improving they are willing to try many different treatments or surgeries in hopes that it will cure their symptoms. The wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong treatment with the chance of improvement being almost zero percent.
There are many reasons that play into a patient receiving the wrong diagnosis as doctors are not infallible. The important thing to realize is that it is the radiologist that most often makes your diagnosis, yet they are also the ones with the least clinical information about you and your condition. Your doctor may spend 10 minutes with you on several occasions discussing your pain or condition with you. Yet what tends to be shared with the radiologist who is making your diagnosis is no more than the word, “Pain”. There is no description of where the pain is, how long it has been there, what makes it better or worse.
Having a diagnosis made by a radiologist in a vacuum without real clinical information is much like having a lab test performed. However, radiology is not as simple as a lab test being positive or negative for a chemical that is being screened for. This negates the 14 years or more of training your doctor in radiology has undergone and hinders them from making the correct diagnosis.
The Medical Consultant radiologists can speak with you directly, which allows you to share your information with them to get the right diagnosis.
