Word: mri
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...AUTISTIC BRAIN Whether the cause is maternal antibodies, heavy metals or something else, there is no question that the brains of young children with autism have unusual features. To begin with, they tend to be too big. In studies based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and basic tape-measure readings, neuroscientist Eric Courchesne at Children's Hospital of San Diego showed that while children with autism are born with ordinary-size brains, they experience a rapid expansion by age 2 - particularly in the frontal lobes. By age 4, says Courchesne, autistic children tend to have brains the size...
This is one abiding irony of progress. The most wondrous technology exists that can pinpoint the exact location of a tumor, thread a tiny catheter up into the brain to open a clogged artery, pulverize a kidney stone without breaking the skin. But the simple stuff--like getting an MRI on time, being given the right drugs at the right time, making sure everyone knows which side of your brain to operate on--can cause the biggest problems. "A patient with anything but the simplest needs is traversing a very complicated system across many handoffs and locations and players," says...
Doctors and nurses also know when to respect an educated opinion. When the MRI says one thing and I want to do another, they are more likely to be on my side. But you need not be a medical professional, or educated at all, to be a great patient. It's pretty much the same strain of human decency--a truthful consideration of who the people around you are and of what they are trying to do--that infects a good patient and any good person...
...even if they start out false. My patient Eddy was in a car accident in the last several years. When he saw me soon after the accident, my examination showed he had a mild finger and knee sprain, but no bruising or swelling. All of his x-rays and MRI's were essentially normal. Eddy walked with a ridiculously fake limp and a cane, when he remembered...
...instead of on my upper back or neck. I stood up immediately and because I didn't want my children to get the wrong message, got right back up on the horse that bucked me and finished the race, albeit at a slow trot. When an orthopedist reviewed the MRI two weeks later and announced that I had broken a vertebrae and that I was "damn lucky - a centimeter in any direction and you wouldn't have walked in here," I was reduced to tears...