All Posts Tagged With: "MRI"

Cancer diagnosis and treatment is ready for an overnight revolution. This WSJ report has vital information about how bad current diagnosis is and offers some real hope for the future. If you add this information to the new Johnson and Johnson test that finds one cancer cell in a billion in peripheral blood and therefore alerts doctors and patients. Most cancers are not local by the time they are found; if you find a 6 mm lump in a breast there are already 100 million cancer cells present there!! Now that we know radiation offers no help nor does lymph node dissection in the axilla offer any benefit, this is the time to move on to any tests that will motivate patients to take better care of themselves.

My FIGHT program is the answer but patients need some test that they believe is worth paying attention to in order to follow my program and then see that the less than optimal test results are all improving and they are no longer getting sick.

Also note in this report that there is a high false positive rate on skin biopsies for melanoma so who is getting needless surgery again? Please join me in alerting patients to the futility of current cut, burn and poison and the value of a total health program like my FIGHT program. We know we can improve the outcome of every measurable parameter of disease including cancer, cv, dx and dementia and slow aging.

Note that researchers at UC San Diego find that high cholesterol is protective against environmental toxins!  The cholesterol myth needs to be destroyed; low cholesterol is associated with bad outcomes. Only oxidized cholesterol is worth dealing with and simple things like Kyolic Heart formula has been proven by Dr Budoff at UCLA 
(http://search.barnesandnoble.com/cholesterol/matthew-budoff/e/9781935297109) to be 7.5 times more cardio protective than aspirin and statins together!

The public is brain washed today and they, therefore, have most of the facts all wrong! You need to educate your patients and office visits do not provide the needed time so rent space and invite patients to an evening or a Saturday afternoon free lecture; you could plan on at least 1/2 day for your patients and their families. Do this once or twice a year, as it doubles your practice and increases your satisfaction with your work. Use a Holiday Inn or some affordable large space.

Also refer them to all my lectures on my website and all my PowerPoint lectures are downloadable to use in your office. Contact Liz at Longevity Plus, 928-472-4263, ext 133, for assistance on using one of my PowerPoint lectures.

If we are to avoid bankrupting our nation with bad medicine, you need to become a spokesman for our FACT brand of Advanced Medicine. Put together a flyer, hand out and mail to everyone in your area and rent a space to share what you learn in FACT with your patients and friends and the public. They are ready to listen as Andrew Weil’s book title says No One Can Afford to Get Sick!

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703749504576172564063944284.html?mod=djemHL_t

Excerpt:

Cancer can be notoriously difficult to spot, so scientists are working to develop new techniques to better detect tumors in the body. 

Such tools could potentially identify cancer cells more reliably and earlier than currently available methods, such as mammography, biopsies and magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. Improved detection methods could help speed up treatment decisions and monitor whether a therapy is working.

Excerpt:

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS:: The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate the typical cost of asymmetrical sensorineural hearing loss (ASNHL) work-up, and to compare the positive predictive value from this common presenting symptom. STUDY DESIGN:: Retrospective chart review from two major otolaryngology centers. METHODS:: We reviewed charts from patients presenting to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006, and the University of Minnesota between December 1, 2002 and November 30, 2007 with ASNHL. Diagnostic information included magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and serum laboratory values (antinuclear antibodies, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Lyme, rapid plasma reagin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone). We calculated positive rate according to each item of diagnosis. To estimate cost-benefit, we further calculated the average cost for identifying a patient with a positive result. 

CONCLUSIONS:: A comprehensive ASNHL work-up may not be applicable to all patients. Laboratory serologic tests are highly cost effective in diagnosing treatable causes of ASNHL, such as syphilis and Lyme. Although radiographic imaging with MRI is not as cost effective, its value in detecting for acoustic neuroma is undeniable. Laryngoscope, 2010.

Excerpt:

To report on the differential diagnosis of lyme arthritis and synovial hemangioma due to similar clinical and radiological signs and symptoms. A 15-year-old boy presented at the age of 9 with recurrent rather painless swelling of the right knee. Altogether four episodes lasting for 1-2 weeks each occurred over a period of 18 months before medical advice was sought. Physical examination revealed only a slightly limited range of motion. Living in an endemic area of borreliosis, he reported a tick bite 6 months prior to onset of his symptoms with erythema migrans and was treated for 10 days with amoxicillin. Serology revealed two positive unspecific bands in IgG immunoblot (p41 and 66) with slight positivity for ELISA. Ultrasound revealed synovial thickening and increased fluid. Despite the weak positive serology a diagnosis of lyme arthritis could not be excluded and intravenous antibiotic treatment with ceftriaxone was started. After two further relapses antiinflammatory therapy including intraarticular steroids were introduced with no long lasting effect. A chronical disease developed with alternate periods of swelling and almost complete remission. Ultrasound as well as MRI demonstrated ongoing signs of synovitis, therefore after further progression, a diagnostic arthroscopy was performed showing an inconspicuous knee joint. A second MRI showed focal suprapatellar enhancement and was followed by open arthrotomy revealing a histopathological proven synovial cavernous juxtaarticular hemangioma. To our knowledge, the differential diagnosis of lyme arthritis and synovial hemangioma has not yet been reported despite obvious clinical similarities. In conclusion, in children and adolescents synovial hemangioma has to be considered in differential diagnosis of recurrent knee swelling. Early diagnosis is important to prevent prolonged suffering from chronic joint swelling with probable joint damages, unnecessary treatment procedures and as well school and sports absenteeism.

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20505978&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

INTRODUCTION: Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is a rare disorder
(1-8 new cases per million of population per year), with 20% of
all cases occurring in patients younger than 18 years of age.
Diagnosis requires clinical symptoms and evidence of inflammation
within the spinal cord (cerebrospinal fluid and/or magnetic
resonance imaging). ATM due to neuroborreliosis typically
presents with impressive clinical manifestations.
CASE PRESENTATION: Here we present a case of Lyme
neuroborreliosis-associated ATM with severe MRI and CSF findings,
but surprisingly few clinical manifestations and late conversion
of the immunoglobulin G CSF/blood index of Borrelia burgdorferi
sensu lato.
CONCLUSION:
Clinical symptoms and signs of neuroborrelial ATM may be minimal,
even in cases with severe involvement of the spine, as shown by
imaging studies. The CSF/blood index can be negative in the early
stages and does not exclude Lyme neuroborreliosis; if there is
strong clinical suspicion of Lyme neuroborreliosis, appropriate
treatment should be started and the CSF/blood index repeated to
confirm the diagnosis.

Excerpt:

If you have multiple sclerosis (MS)––or you know someone who does––you probably remember how long it took to make the diagnosis.  You also may remember a lot of blood tests, a lumbar puncture, at least one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, as well as many visits and examinations by various doctors.  You may wonder why it still takes so long to make the diagnosis in this modern age of MRIs and other sophisticated tests.  We are going to try to explain why it can be so difficult for even the most expert MS neurologist to determine that someone has MS.  You have to live with the diagnosis and face the disease and the treatments.  You should understand and have confidence in the diagnosis.  Also, if your case of MS does not fit the typical pattern, you need to be aware of the other disorders that can mimic MS.  This is important because the treatments may be very different and, just as in most cases of MS, treatment begun early in the course of the disease is the best way to prevent or slow further neurologic damage.

MRI and new laboratory tests have definitely helped speed the diagnosis, but it still takes longer than anyone would wish, even in easy cases.  This is partly because of the variable nature of the disease in its many signs and symptoms. But it is also because a rather long list of other medical disorders can cause neurologic symptoms and signs that resemble MS. Furthermore, the “white spots” on brain MRI can be caused by a number of other conditions that also need to be ruled out.

The diagnosis of clinically definite MS requires that a person experience at least two neurologic symptoms of the type seen in MS, in two different areas of the central nervous system (CNS), at two different times (‘disseminated in space and time’).  Most typically, the symptoms are optic neuritis plus either an abnormal sensation or a problem with movement.  It can also be numbness in one part of the body and weakness or lack of coordination in another.  But in every case, there can be no other explanation for the symptoms, the changes seen on the MRI, and the abnormalities in the spinal fluid.  Many “mimics” need to be ruled out in order to make the diagnosis of MS. 

Excerpt:

November 13, 2009 (Washington, DC) — The odds that a child living in a Lyme-endemic area of the United States who presents with a joint effusion will be diagnosed as having Lyme arthritis is 29%. The odds are even higher (44%) if the affected joint is the knee. The leukocyte count is useful in distinguishing between septic and Lyme arthritis, researchers announced here.

“There was an increase in the number of cases in the United States by 101% over the past 15 years, possibly due to increased recognition of Lyme disease,” said Aristides I. Cruz Jr., MD, resident in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. During his presentation, he noted that 93% of all Lyme disease cases arise from 10 states, most in the Northeast United States.

November 13, 2009 (Washington, DC) – The odds that a child living in a Lyme-endemic area of the United States who presents with a joint effusion will be diagnosed as having Lyme arthritis is 29%. The odds are even higher (44%) if the affected joint is the knee. The leukocyte count is useful in distinguishing between septic and Lyme arthritis, researchers announced here.

“There was an increase in the number of cases in the United States by 101% over the past 15 years, possibly due to increased recognition of Lyme disease,” said Aristides I. Cruz Jr., MD, resident in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. During his presentation, he noted that 93% of all Lyme disease cases arise from 10 states, most in the Northeast United States. Continued