Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
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Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#2Wow. Amazing story. Moral of the story : If you can, ask for a second opinion!
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#3This is an amazing story - and pretty much my worst nightmare. Not necessarily cancer itself, but the feeling and anxiety that you're not being treated and taken care of properly and that someone might be missing something. That doctors are (rightfully) unable to pay proper attention to everyone and everything just due to the sheer number of patients they must see. I know I'm prone to hypochondria, and it doesn't help to read things like this.
I can't wait for a world where we can constantly monitor the body easily, and abnormalities can be detected quickly and unequivocally, and even have software that can aid doctors in diagnosing.
I've read articles where doctors approach such ideas with skepticism, saying that more data isn't necessarily better, which surprises me very much. How can you look at two data points on a curve and guess what the curve looks like?
Anyone else feel similarly?
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edit: I see false positives and the cost of dealing with them brought up often in the replies - I think this is an issue exactly /because/ we suck so much at diagnosis.
The argument that what you see may be wrong, therefore you must close your eyes just blows my mind. So you'd rather base timely detection of true positives on random chance?
Maybe if we saw these false positives much more often then we could observe the false positives properly and know how to identify them and improve diagnostics. Or maybe we'd be able to know better when intervening would be more harmful than not intervening. That an intervention would be harmful should not affect the choice to monitor.
And then there is also the issue of the diagnosis itself being potentially harmful (full-body CTs etc) which is equally terrifying and even more conflicting. We can also improve there too.
In any case, this was supposed to be more about the nondiagnosis anxiety, but I'm not unhappy with where this discussion went.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#4Interesting article, glad the operation was successful.
The most interesting part of the article is not the advance in technology (nothing new, we've been using 3d prints as models for complicated fractures / bone tumours or even custom prostheses for years (academic centre)) but the low use rate of this technology by most hospitals.
The trick with overlaying follow-up scans is called image fusion and is easy and can be done by one-click applications (for example http://www.blackfordanalysis.com/) but outside of lung noduli i know of little clinical use. I've seen these types of mistake made before and trying to introduce it locally. Image fusion is also an awesome surgical procedure analysis tool (both for research and clinical applications), complimentary to the standard PA examination.
The patient education part is enormously helpful in practice. Cost per patient is however still high quite high for large models. For example a cardiac tumor model was printed with transparent plastic for around 500e. Our bone models luckily are a lot cheaper (non-clear plastic). When the price comes down i hope acceptance will improve.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#5This makes me doubt the reliability of cancer diagnosis:
>They were understandably terrified, but neurologists who read the radiology report seemed unconcerned, explaining that such masses were common among women, and suggested Scott have it checked again in a year.
Yet at the end of the article they say
>if she had waited six months, she would have had severe, and possibly permanent, degradation of her sight.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#6Interesting article, glad the operation was successful. The most interesting part of the article is not the advance in technology (nothing new, we've been using 3d prints as models for complicated fractures / bone tumours or even custom prostheses for years (academic centre)) but the low use rate of this technology by most hospitals. The trick with overlaying follow-up scans is called image fusion and is easy and can…
@jepper I agree with your comments and to add to what you said, what really stuck out for me was how receptive the doctors were to his analysis. I didn't pick up any kind of resistance by the medical professionals to this guy's analysis.
Also, I have a chronic condition and this comment from the article is just so true.
"Scott’s recent thyroid surgery had taught them that getting the best care requires being proactive and extremely well informed. "
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#7This is an amazing story - and pretty much my worst nightmare. Not necessarily cancer itself, but the feeling and anxiety that you're not being treated and taken care of properly and that someone might be missing something. That doctors are (rightfully) unable to pay proper attention to everyone and everything just due to the sheer number of patients they must see. I know I'm prone to hypochondria, and it doesn't hel…
Historically I have fallen into the "don't do unnecessary tests" camp, but I would be willing to consider an alternative viewpoint. Perhaps what is needed is continuous monitoring of biochemical data from volunteers longitudinally to help us understand if any of that data is actionable in a way that reduces suffering or prolongs life. I think the right sensors have not yet been invented for this purpose, but they are probably getting close.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#8This makes me doubt the reliability of cancer diagnosis: >They were understandably terrified, but neurologists who read the radiology report seemed unconcerned, explaining that such masses were common among women, and suggested Scott have it checked again in a year. Yet at the end of the article they say >if she had waited six months, she would have had severe, and possibly permanent, degradation of her sight.
You should doubt everything when it comes to your life. Question everything and leave no stone un-turned.
I know this first hand. Doctors, very smart, just don't know everything. You really have to bone up on whatever is ailing you and really shop the knowledge base that is out there.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#9This is an amazing story - and pretty much my worst nightmare. Not necessarily cancer itself, but the feeling and anxiety that you're not being treated and taken care of properly and that someone might be missing something. That doctors are (rightfully) unable to pay proper attention to everyone and everything just due to the sheer number of patients they must see. I know I'm prone to hypochondria, and it doesn't hel…
Historically I have fallen into the "don't do unnecessary tests" camp, but I would be willing to consider an alternative viewpoint. Perhaps what is needed is continuous monitoring of biochemical data from volunteers longitudinally to help us understand if any of that data is actionable in a way that reduces suffering or prolongs life. I think the right sensors have not yet been invented for this purpose, but they are…
You're not alone. I agree with you and a very wealthy friend of mine who owns his own company bought an MRI machine for his employees and had it installed in the building he owns.
Re: Man saves wife’s sight by 3D printing her brain tumor
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Historically I have fallen into the "don't do unnecessary tests" camp, but I would be willing to consider an alternative viewpoint. Perhaps what is needed is continuous monitoring of biochemical data from volunteers longitudinally to help us understand if any of that data is actionable in a way that reduces suffering or prolongs life. I think the right sensors have not yet been invented for this purpose, but they are…
You're not alone. I agree with you and a very wealthy friend of mine who owns his own company bought an MRI machine for his employees and had it installed in the building he owns.
paradoxically there is also a risk involved with false positive diagnosis (be it unnecessary procedures, CT scans, surgeries, anxiety etc.) Also the detection window can be small from detectable to symptomatic for (especially) aggressive tumors. An example is the very difficult discussion on general population mamma carcinoma (breast cancer) or colon cancer screenings.
However being well informed and questioning everything is the very best way to be a patient.