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I find MRI machines absolutely fascinating. If I was mega-wealthy, I would have one at my house to perform independent research with. Even the math involved in

I find MRI machines absolutely fascinating. If I was mega-wealthy, I would have one at my house to perform independent research with. Even the math involved in the inverse problem of how images are constructed from the raw signals is super interesting. I agree with you that these should be all over the place; I think they would be a great boon for preventative medicine.

lostlogin 3y ago
Have a read about what happens - the Kardashian Whole Body scan is still in the news. It’s not as good as one would hope. False positive cause misery.
- Xcelerate 3y ago
  Yeah, but the false positives are a separate issue to solve. That would be like saying the introduction of the car has led to thousands of deaths by automobile — accurate, but not the whole story of why we keep them around.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    You're missing another category. True, but not serious, positives. Take the following example. Right now in your brain you have a small cancerous lesion. If you don't know about it, your body will heal it and you'll never know that you had it. But, if I show you a picture of it, suddenly you're filled with stress chemicals causing your immune system to work poorly. The cancer grows into outwardly detectable illness. You now require treatment for a deadly illness.
- itishappy 3y ago
  Real positives aren't much better! A friend of mine worked with an MRI researcher and therefore had an opportunity to undergo a number of elective MRIs for free. They consistently turned up minor issues (labral tears, bone spurs, etc.), even in body parts that he assumed were perfectly healthy. Bodies are complicated, and we can compensate a surprising amount before things become an problematic. Learning about all of these isn't always helpful, and can actually cause harm (e.g. stress) once made aware.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    It turns out that ignorance, is in fact, bliss. Placebo/nocebo effect is weird.

lostlogin 3y ago

Have a read about what happens - the Kardashian Whole Body scan is still in the news. It’s not as good as one would hope. False positive cause misery.

Xcelerate 3y ago
Yeah, but the false positives are a separate issue to solve. That would be like saying the introduction of the car has led to thousands of deaths by automobile — accurate, but not the whole story of why we keep them around.
- pixl97 3y ago
  You're missing another category. True, but not serious, positives. Take the following example. Right now in your brain you have a small cancerous lesion. If you don't know about it, your body will heal it and you'll never know that you had it. But, if I show you a picture of it, suddenly you're filled with stress chemicals causing your immune system to work poorly. The cancer grows into outwardly detectable illness. You now require treatment for a deadly illness.
itishappy 3y ago
Real positives aren't much better! A friend of mine worked with an MRI researcher and therefore had an opportunity to undergo a number of elective MRIs for free. They consistently turned up minor issues (labral tears, bone spurs, etc.), even in body parts that he assumed were perfectly healthy. Bodies are complicated, and we can compensate a surprising amount before things become an problematic. Learning about all of these isn't always helpful, and can actually cause harm (e.g. stress) once made aware.
- pixl97 3y ago
  It turns out that ignorance, is in fact, bliss. Placebo/nocebo effect is weird.