MRIs - The Positives and the False Positives

Tests – what are they good for?

When it comes to back pain tests, of MRIs that question must be asked. What are MRIs good for when the proportion of helpful, influential MRI studies is so small? False positive MRI results distress those who get such results. They arouse fear or caution where it’s not always needed. MRIs like this blur the proper treatment plan. They spend a lot of money. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc carefully evaluates the need for MRI in the Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment plan of Fort Wayne back pain relief.

MEDICINE’S VIEW

MRI interpretations by radiologists often differ.  The true-positive finding rate was 56.4%, and the miss-rate was 43.6%. (1) MRI imaging may produce misleading suspicion. When following the guidelines of the American College of Radiology, 93% of lumbar spine MRIs were proper. Of those, only 13% revealed anything that needed to be addressed. Of the 36 MRIs that roused suspicion of cancer or infection, 81% were false-positive. 59% of the follow-up MRIs on those suspicious findings were false positives. (2) MRI imaging may misinform. For example, MRI demonstrates that the presence of disc degeneration in asymptomatic persons – persons with no back pain – rises with age:  37% in 20 year olds and 96% in 80 year olds; disc bulges: 30% to 84%; disc protrusion: 29% to 43%; annular fissures 19% to 29%. These imaging findings imply that these are signs of normal aging. They remind all doctors, remind chiropractors like yours at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc, to link all such findings to patient symptoms. (1,3) Your Fort Wayne chiropractor does this!

CHIROPRACTIC’S VIEW

Choosing Wisely guidelines for American chiropractors suggest30 not repeating spinal imaging and not getting spinal imaging for patients with acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of back pain (except when “red flags” are present– issues that indicate something more worrisome). (4) A review of the efficacy of the Canadian Choosing Wisely recommendations for imaging nonspecific spinal pain and symptoms reported that there is very low risk of missing a serious cause of back pain. (5) The goal of guidelines is less imaging, fewer false positives.  Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc wants what’s best for our Fort Wayne chiropractic care patients.

COX® TECHNIC’S VIEW

Chiropractors like yours at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc study all the symptoms, tests and images our Fort Wayne chiropractic back pain patients [[present on|bring with them39] their first Fort Wayne chiropractic visit. So many back pain patients come to Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc with MRI images already with them. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc will study them but will depend more on clinical exam findings and correlate them to what the MRI shows. A rule of thumb with the Cox Technic System of Back Pain Relief is to seek 50% reduction of back pain in the first 30 days of care before arranging additional imaging or testing or referring for surgical consultation. (6)

CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Dan Clark on the Back Doctor’s Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes imaging for back pain in the scheme of treatment for pain relief.

Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment with Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc today. Let us explore together the best path to Fort Wayne back pain relief – with or without MRI imaging!