fMRI

From: Mark in Seattle (mark7@skynetbb.com)
Mon Feb 23 22:45:10 2009


Lou,

The experience of most patients on Internet forums continues to be that there is no test for ARD, and many suffer from a lack of a diagnosis. However, studies out of Munich, Germany, performed by Dr. Korell, Dr. Reiser, and Dr. Lienemann among others, say that a relatively new MRI technique, called Functional Cine MRI, is quite good in detecting the presence and location of abdominal adhesions. The images are informative and may prove be the tool doctors have long hoped for, allowing them to measure the “before” and “after” effectiveness of adhesion treatments. This could be breakthrough that we need to accelerate research. Research has, by all accounts, been slow. Without proof, there can be no science, and until now, there has been no way to demonstrate results.

Citation: Andreas Lienemann, MD, Dorothee Sprenger, MD, Heinrich Otto Steitz, MD, Matthias Korell, MD and Maximillian Reiser, MD Radiology 2000 ;217:412-425, Detection and Mapping of Intraabdominal Adhesions by Using Functional Cine MR Imaging: Preliminary Results

Sonja Buhmann-Kirchhoff, Reinhold Lang, Chlodwig Kirchhoff, Heinrich Otto Steitz, Karl Walter Jauch, Maximilian Reiser and Andreas Lienemann, European Radiology, June 2008, Functional cine MR Imaging for the Detection and Mapping of Intraabdominal Adhesions: Method and Surgical Correlation,

It's important to note that this technology does not easily differentiate between adhesions that are symptomatic and those that are not. Therefore, diagnosing ARD will probably continue to be more of an exercise of a doctor's clinical judgment. It will likely not rest simply on the outcome of a test result.

However, I do think that having an fMRI test will help patients get the attention we deserve. No longer will a doctor be able to say, "I don't know if you have adhesions, or not." Now they will say, "Okay, we know you have adhesions. Now let's talk about what we should do about it." That's an interesting question. Isn't it?

Yours,

--
Mark in Seattle

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