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As a brother and a parent who had went through the cancer journey. My son had bone cancer(passed away in April 2013, age 12.5) and my sister who had brain cance

by baldfat 13y ago

As a brother and a parent who had went through the cancer journey. My son had bone cancer(passed away in April 2013, age 12.5) and my sister who had brain cancer (passed away 1996, age 15) 1) Open Standards: Images need to be shared from any hospital or lab to any doctor via internet! I had to go through the scan praying that there wasn't a new tumor or that the tumor was small etc... Wait 15 minutes for the CDs to be printed and my son was in pain and just wanted to go home. OR I forget and have to go through an hour or two days to get a copy BEFORE I can see the doctor. Also doctors should feel comfortable using whatever program they want to view MRI or CT scans! 2) Video: My son loved going to one hospital because they had a video player that went over his eyes! Awesome lets raise the money to get one at our local hospital. it cost over $40,000 :(. Really???? 3) Open MRI systems are great. http://www.mrispecialists.net/Equipment.shtml http://www.mrispecialists.net/Equipment.shtml

zrail 13y ago
First of all, I'm so sorry for your losses. I can't imagine how devastating that must be (coming from someone who just lost two parents to cancer and went through treatment himself earlier this year). Open standards would be awesome. I thankfully went through treatment at an integrated system so everything was just "in the system" for all of my doctors, but if I were hopping around between systems that would be extremely useful. As far as the video thing, the only reason I can imagine is because MRIs are basically huge magnets so they have to build the whole thing out of non-ferrous materials. Plus the customary medical equipment mark up, but still that can't actually be $40k.
- darkmighty 13y ago
  Wouldn't it be simpler to just project the film on a screen on top of the kid?
  - zrail 13y ago
    The giant rotating ring of magnets is about 8 inches in front of your face when you're getting a head MRI so there isn't much room to get things focused properly.
  - femto 13y ago
    Or perhaps a periscope, so the patient sees a view of the room, rather than the inside of the magnet? The periscope could be built out of plastic, like a fat optical fibre, with the reflection being done by "total internal reflection" at the plastic/air interface. That way there are no metallic reflecting layers in it.
- objclxt 13y ago
  > As far as the video thing, the only reason I can imagine is because MRIs are basically huge magnets so they have to build the whole thing out of non-ferrous materials. Plus the customary medical equipment mark up, but still that can't actually be $40k. There is another solution, which is to use a reflective surface at 45 degrees to your eyes and a video projector the other end of the room focused down the scanner. A few years ago I volunteered for a functional MRI brain scan which required me to watch various video clips, that's how they did it for me. I guess it might be slightly cheaper, but knowing medical equipment maybe not.
riahi 13y ago
I'm applying for residency in Radiology now. I completely agree with your observations. Hopefully, we will make #1 happen.

by baldfat 13y ago

zrail 13y ago

First of all, I'm so sorry for your losses. I can't imagine how devastating that must be (coming from someone who just lost two parents to cancer and went through treatment himself earlier this year). Open standards would be awesome. I thankfully went through treatment at an integrated system so everything was just "in the system" for all of my doctors, but if I were hopping around between systems that would be extremely useful. As far as the video thing, the only reason I can imagine is because MRIs are basically huge magnets so they have to build the whole thing out of non-ferrous materials. Plus the customary medical equipment mark up, but still that can't actually be $40k.

darkmighty 13y ago
Wouldn't it be simpler to just project the film on a screen on top of the kid?
- zrail 13y ago
  The giant rotating ring of magnets is about 8 inches in front of your face when you're getting a head MRI so there isn't much room to get things focused properly.
- femto 13y ago
  Or perhaps a periscope, so the patient sees a view of the room, rather than the inside of the magnet? The periscope could be built out of plastic, like a fat optical fibre, with the reflection being done by "total internal reflection" at the plastic/air interface. That way there are no metallic reflecting layers in it.
objclxt 13y ago
> As far as the video thing, the only reason I can imagine is because MRIs are basically huge magnets so they have to build the whole thing out of non-ferrous materials. Plus the customary medical equipment mark up, but still that can't actually be $40k. There is another solution, which is to use a reflective surface at 45 degrees to your eyes and a video projector the other end of the room focused down the scanner. A few years ago I volunteered for a functional MRI brain scan which required me to watch various video clips, that's how they did it for me. I guess it might be slightly cheaper, but knowing medical equipment maybe not.

riahi 13y ago

I'm applying for residency in Radiology now. I completely agree with your observations. Hopefully, we will make #1 happen.