“Iodine-based contrast agents are widely used for CT and other X-ray studies. They light up blood vessels and enhance perfusing tissue. These agents are essential for diagnosing everything from clots, to tumor, to bleeding. Unfortunately, many pa…
Category: Radiology
When your institution has a less than 1% hiring rate for Black residents
The other day I was in the main hallway outside of our radiology reading rooms, which is lined with picture frames of all the residency senior classes dating back to the 1980s. I’m new to the institution, so it was nice to see all the prior residents. …
Patients alone cannot combat high health care prices
After three months of physical therapy, her doctor told her that it was time to get an MRI. She had already paid off her annual deductible, meaning the imaging test would “only” cost her the $150 co-pay. An imaging center near where she worked charged …
In the COVID-19 era, point of care ultrasound has proven invaluable
Amidst the crushing human and economic carnage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one innocent bystander has been cowering in the dark corner of medicine’s past, clinging to its final breaths of iconicity: the beloved stethoscope. For over two centuri…
Why we must keep learning from the coronavirus pandemic
Looking back on the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, I hope that we are able to take away several lessons. Immediately after the virus showed up in the United States, many physicians without access to virus testing seemed to go straight to imagi…
If you’re falling apart, should you still perform the pancreas biopsy?
Many radiologists choose the specialty because they don’t like interacting with sick people. As a highly sensitive person, I went into radiology to distance myself from patient suffering, as a means of self-protection. Radiology has allowed me to compa…
A critical moment that resulted in a permanent, devastating consequence
An excerpt from Looking Within: Understanding Ourselves through Human Imaging. It started as a routine weekend shift, reading studies on patients in the hospital and the emergency department, when the phone rang. Jessie, the nuclear medicine technologi…
Resident adds Rorschach reads to radiology reports
In the dark radiology reading rooms, only the gentle hum of the computers and the quiet chatter of residents dictating radiology reads break the silence. Among the computers sits Dr. Exner, a senior radiology resident at Hospital Woeisme. He has recent…
Too many scans is bad medicine
A medical diagnostic company recently posted the following tweet: “The best way to beat cancer is early detection. A full-body scan will provide you with a look inside your body and peace of mind.” I wanted to type a reply, but I like to te…
A quick CT scan for the frail and elderly
First, you have to call up your daughter to pick you up and take you to the lab. It’s hard for the nurse to find your vein. The pain from his fishing around in your arm is not nearly as bad as the pain you always have in your hip, and back, and shoulde…
