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I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

antoine.fi

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Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#631

Post by throwaway2037 »

linsomniac wrote: post #91

~2 years ago I used ChatGPT "deep research" to investigate a chronic sinus infection I'd been fighting for ~3 years. After seeing 3 GPs and 3 visits with an ENT, I fed all the observations I had into the AI. In particular, I couldn't get the ENT to explain why he visually saw, via a scope, evidence of allergic reaction in my sinuses, but then later concluded, after an allergy test, that it couldn't be treated via all…

    > Let me just try taking a second-gen allergy tablet every day and see what happens.
Stupid question: Why did you wait three years before trying this tactic?

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#633

Post by LogicFailsMe »

Aurornis wrote: post #167
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #117

> There's something incredibly peaceful about being in the hands of an expert you trust. [...] AI can absolutely shatter that feeling in an uncomfortable way [...] but I don't know if I can fully trust AI either. This really is key. We know we can't trust the AI, but at the same time we're also more comfortable asking the AI for clarifications or confronting it. Not having a time-bound appointment or paying by the ho…

I have multiple LLM subscriptions at any given time, plus an array of local models. When I ask a question outside of my domain of expertise I like to ask all of the LLMs I have access to. I also create separate sessions and ask the same question multiple ways. It’s revealing to see how many different and contradictory answers I get, most of which are presented confidently. The last time I ran a medical question throu…

As someone who uses Claude Code to summarize published research, you have to ground it in peer-reviewed results or it gets lost. But also, I am grounded with two degrees in the source material. So I am feeding it my views and asking if the published work agrees or disagrees with my opinions and I get fantastic results that way to the point of knowing current clinical trials and treatment regimens than most of the oncologists and which led to a great conversation with the clinical trials team. This doesn't replace people, but it augments existing expertise amazingly well.

But also, I hear so many tales of running out of tokens. I ask Claude Code to build a tool to perform a task. I review the tool and then I let it rip if I'm happy with it. As I understand things, most just ask Claude Code to do the task. That seems a bit fraught.

Anyway, you have to impose constraints IMO and ask the right questions to get the answers you need or yes Claude Code (or any other LLM) will eventually just agree with you.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#634

Post by dsign »

> There's something incredibly peaceful about being in the hands of an expert you trust. You don't have to worry anymore and can let them guide you through the process.

> AI can absolutely shatter that feeling in an uncomfortable way...

As a mental experiment, think how things would look like if the AIs were right more often than doctors. Then living longer and being healthier would imply living with a lot of "technical medical worries" that you don't longer get to outsource to a black-boxy human wearing whites. I know some people who are already ridding that train.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#635

Post by [deleted] »

Aurornis wrote: post #167
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #117

> There's something incredibly peaceful about being in the hands of an expert you trust. [...] AI can absolutely shatter that feeling in an uncomfortable way [...] but I don't know if I can fully trust AI either. This really is key. We know we can't trust the AI, but at the same time we're also more comfortable asking the AI for clarifications or confronting it. Not having a time-bound appointment or paying by the ho…

I have multiple LLM subscriptions at any given time, plus an array of local models. When I ask a question outside of my domain of expertise I like to ask all of the LLMs I have access to. I also create separate sessions and ask the same question multiple ways. It’s revealing to see how many different and contradictory answers I get, most of which are presented confidently. The last time I ran a medical question throu…

[deleted]

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#636

Post by Mr-Frog »

voidUpdate wrote: post #614

How do LLMs get information from images? Do they have to run essentially the opposite of an image generation model, taking an image and converting it into a description? I'm just concerned that the description wouldn't be able to encapsulate the information needed to differentiate exactly what is wrong with a shoulder. The image -> text model would need to know what it should actually report back to the LLM about the…

older vision LLMs chopped up images into patches which were projected into the same embedding token space as words. Newer ones use an encoder to more efficiently project an image into token space. Then it runs through the same attention layers as the text component.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#637

Post by yubblegum »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #481
Aurornis wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have multiple LLM subscriptions at any given time, plus an array of local models. When I ask a question outside of my domain of expertise I like to ask all of the LLMs I have access to. I also create separate sessions and ask the same question multiple ways. It’s revealing to see how many different and contradictory answers I get, most of which are presented confidently. The last time I ran a medical question throu…

In my day job we tried creating a credit assessor tool using LLM as the credit assessor. It did great, generated a report on the assessed business that was incredibly detailed and plausible. Then I started running tests and getting into the details, and found that if you ran the same report on the same data, it generated completely different, still very plausible, results. I could run the same source data through the…

> LLMs are designed to produce plausible results, not factual results.

They are true to their name: Language models. It is precisely the same problem in a language: a grammatically correct sentence is not necessarily true.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#639

Post by Esophagus4 »

RussianCow wrote: post #535
scheme271 wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that in the code situation, you can run unit tests on the code, compile it, etc. Unless your LLMs are ordering diagnostics and reviewing the results, there is no further information that the LLMs have on the situation. Having a second LLM review the first is counterproductive, if the 2nd LLM is better, why not use it directly? If not, then what prevents it from sending the first on some incorrect ta…

Also, there are multiple "correct" ways to code something, so imperfect code that solves the problem is still useful. A medical diagnosis is either correct or incorrect.

En, I think you’re just trying to justify your pre-existing position that this can’t work.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-026-02619-0

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-025-00007-8?fromPaywa...

Different prompt approaches and training doctors to use LLMs can improve accuracy of LLM-assisted diagnosis. It’s pretty reasonable to hypothesize that LLM “peer review” could improve that as well.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#640

Post by Volsk1 »

I thought this was an interesting experiment and I repeated it with my own DICOM. Results are terrible. Claude has complete opposite diagnosis on my ACL, mensci and cartilage.

Claude: Primary finding: Complete ACL tear with the classic pivot-shift bone bruise signature (posterior lateral femoral condyle + anterior lateral tibial plateau edema) and large hemarthrosis. PCL, MCL, LCL, menisci, and cartilage all intact.

Radiologist: English translation of findings & conclusion: Mild joint effusion. No Baker's cyst. Post-ACL reconstruction with minor cyst formation in both the femoral and tibial bone tunnels. The ACL graft shows heterogeneous signal but no complete or recurrent rupture. PCL and collateral ligaments intact. The lateral meniscus appears abnormal, likely from prior partial meniscectomy, with significant cartilage loss (partly Grade 4) at the posterior lateral compartment, osteophyte formation, and reactive bone marrow edema. The medial meniscus shows diffuse signal change from prior repair but no recurrent tear (specifically no recurrent bucket-handle tear). Mild chondropathy with focal cartilage loss on the lateral side of the medial femoral condyle. Cyclops lesion present. No definite loose bodies.

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