orthopedic/radiologist? - child knee injury-MRI

[TheExcession]

A proper long shot I know.

Little Ex took a nasty bang to the left knee 3 weeks ago, just got the MRI in yesterday, waiting now for a consultant review.

I'm asking if any experts here might take a look at his MRI scan, or know where I can send the scans - we're looking at another 7 days before he gets reassessed.

I'm happy to pay, an invoice is required for the insurance cover, and I'll provide a download link for the MRI data.

Can anyone help?

[Du1point8]

Not sure if a person can give advice as you can't take it as gospel, they might if you are lucky, give an opinion but I doubt anyone would want to be held accountable if you listen to them and they are wrong.

My mother is a radiographer and might be able to say what it looks like, thats if I can get hold of her as she is currently on holiday, but they do have access to a laptop if you would like me to try?

[zeDuffMan]

Seems a bit silly really. Getting a diagnosis a few days early over the internet isn't going to expedite treatment. It's just opening up a can of worms if you're told the wrong thing.

I'd be interested to see if any qualified physician would take the risk.

[TheExcession]

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

I'm just asking if anyone would take a look and offer some pointers that might enable me to go and do further research.

I'm not going to chase anyone regarding anything they say, I've already spent a couple of hours with Gray's Anatomy on my lap scrolling through the scans.

I'm more after someone who is used to looking at MRIs giving me a pointer along the lines of 'there may be something of interest there in the LCL, or the ACL and PCL look fine to me'.

I have the disk uploaded now and available for down load as a 38Mb zip file which you can just unzip and run the scan viewer program.

If anyone would like to take a look please PM me for the link.

Thanks

(As a matter of interest - if anyone has a passing interest in anatomy but has never seen or played about with an MRI scan it's fascinating stuff!)

[The_Doc]

TheExcession said:

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

I'm just asking if anyone would take a look and offer some pointers that might enable me to go and do further research.

I'm not going to chase anyone regarding anything they say, I've already spent a couple of hours with Gray's Anatomy on my lap scrolling through the scans.

I'm more after someone who is used to looking at MRIs giving me a pointer along the lines of 'there may be something of interest there in the LCL, or the ACL and PCL look fine to me'.

I have the disk uploaded now and available for down load as a 38Mb zip file which you can just unzip and run the scan viewer program.

If anyone would like to take a look please PM me for the link.

Thanks

(As a matter of interest - if anyone has a passing interest in anatomy but has never seen or played about with an MRI scan it's fascinating stuff!)

The pictures will be reported by a consultant radiologist, usually specialising in musculoskeletal MRI, your taxes pay his wage and you can get a copy of his report quite easily. Ask nicely hospital/GP. Usually scans are reported in 24-48 hrs.
It DOES NOT make either a diagnosis or a management plan. That is for an experienced knee surgeon, experience in paediatric knee. And they are quite hard to be sure on, although conversely the healing potential is huge.
I will not look at your pictures, I'm sorry, because it's not really helpful without talking to the patient and examining the patient, and those are the rules for the whole NHS.

I'm not trying to be obstructive, just give you info.

What you really need to see is a proper knee expert quickly if it's a serious injury, and quickly means within 10 days of injury.

If you have time, read this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC322937...

I was chatting to the author yesterday, he is even more knowledgeable (actually massively so) than me )

[TheExcession]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The_Doc said:

Usually scans are reported in 24-48 hrs.

We're in Ireland, where my Dad spent 72hrs on a trolley in A&E after a stroke waiting for an assessment.

I just got off the phone to the private MRI clinic where I handed over 200 Euro for the MRI to be told, it usually takes at least a week for the radiologist report. This injury is 3 weeks old now with no signs of improvement.

Can you understand why I'm fishing around now?

The_Doc said:

I will not look at your pictures, I'm sorry, because it's not really helpful without talking to the patient and examining the patient

I can't argue with that, the Senior Registrar that saw him Monday morning said similar, his excuse, I can't read MRIs very well, and he refused to conduct a full physical exam because my lad screamed every time he pressed or pulled at his knee.

I was told "Bring him back in a week when the pain has subsided, we have the radiologist report and I can do a physical exam..."

The_Doc said:

I'm not trying to be obstructive, just give you info.

That's what I'm posting here for....

The_Doc said:

What you really need to see is a proper knee expert quickly if it's a serious injury

Should I ask the PH mods to change the thread title?

The_Doc said:

and quickly means within 10 days of injury.

- We're three weeks in now, and I'm getting no where.

The_Doc said:

If you have time, read this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC322937...

I was chatting to the author yesterday, he is even more knowledgeable (actually massively so) than me )

You might ask him if he'd take a look at my son's MRI because apart from a few responses here via PM nobody else seems to want to look at it!

[Biglips]

If it is taking more than a week to report in the private sector that is poor. I would be on the phone to them asking when they are going to let you have the result. When I request them privately I expect at least a brief verbal report within 48 hrs of scanning, if it is urgent they will give me a same day result. Sorry I know nothing about knees so cannot help but good luck with this.

[ocd]

Have you made contact with a consultant? Two experts in Eire that I know are Eric Masterson in Dublin and Derek Bennett in Galway. If you are prepared to travel to UK I can recommend some paediatric orthopods who would be able to help.

[TheExcession]

ocd said:

Have you made contact with a consultant? Two experts in Eire that I know are Eric Masterson in Dublin and Derek Bennett in Galway. If you are prepared to travel to UK I can recommend some paediatric orthopods who would be able to help.

Thanks, I'm literally just in through the door, was up at the Out Patients Dept today - had a long wait but finally saw a consultant Thomas Burke.

He was an absolute gentlemen, we had a long chat and an exam of Little Ex. We went through the MRI together and I guess the fact that I appeared to have some knowledge of the anatomy of the knee meant that we had a decent enough conversation.

I can't quite express enough how good it was, and how relieved I was to talk to him. It was almost a bit like meeting the Fred Dibnah of human joints.

We've been sitting on this injury for four weeks now (and my knowledge of knee anatomy has markedly improved) finally all the results have rolled in and after a couple of reviews and exams it looks like it is a popliteus muscle tear/strain - likely cause hyper-extension after being taken off his feet in a tackle.

A huge relief, no ligament, tendon or cartilage damage, Little Ex is still galloping around on crutches and hopefully we'll see him out on the pitch again after Christmas.

Great stuff and such a relief, thanks again to all those that got in touch and helped out/offered advice.

[Du1point8]

Sorry to not get back in touch... The folks have had terrible connection on the wifi in the hotel and haven't been able to connect for more than a few seconds, if you have got your answer I won't ask her if she can help, but as it looks like you are all sorted thats a good thing...

Sorry for the wait.

[TheExcession]

Du1point8 said:

Sorry to not get back in touch... The folks have had terrible connection on the wifi in the hotel and haven't been able to connect for more than a few seconds, if you have got your answer I won't ask her if she can help, but as it looks like you are all sorted thats a good thing...

Sorry for the wait.

YHM

[ocd]

Good to hear that you've had a robust opinion. Very reassuring for you and the boy.