Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Dec 28, 2017; 9(12): 454-458
Published online Dec 28, 2017. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v9.i12.454
Case of victims of modern imaging technology: Increased information noise concealing the diagnosis
Abhishek Mahajan, G V Santhoshkumar, Ameya Shirish Kawthalkar, Richa Vaish, Nilesh Sable, Supreeta Arya, Subhash Desai
Abhishek Mahajan, G V Santhoshkumar, Ameya Shirish Kawthalkar, Richa Vaish, Nilesh Sable, Supreeta Arya, Subhash Desai, Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai 400012, India
Author contributions: All authors contributed to study concepts/study design, data acquisition or data analysis/interpretation, manuscript drafting or manuscript revision for important intellectual content, manuscript final version approval, literature research,manuscript editing and integrity of the data/ the accuracy of the data analysis.
Informed consent statement: Participant gave informed consent for data sharing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: I confirm that this manuscript is not published anywhere else and on behalf of all authors, I state that there is no conflict of interests (including none for related to commercial, personal, political, intellectual, or religious interests).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Abhishek Mahajan, MRes, MD, Radiodiagnosis, Fellowship in Cancer Imaging, Associate professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Room No. 127, Dr E Borges Road, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India. mahajana@tmc.gov.in
Telephone: +91-99-20210811
Received: September 13, 2017
Peer-review started: September 19, 2017
First decision: October 23, 2017
Revised: November 9, 2017
Accepted: November 27, 2017
Article in press: November 27, 2017
Published online: December 28, 2017
Processing time: 103 Days and 10.4 Hours
Abstract

We present a case of tubercular arthritis who underwent numerous unnecessary investigations what is known as “victims of modern imaging technology” or VOMIT. Today there is an exponential rise in the volume of the medical imaging, part of which is contributed by unnecessary and unjustified indications. We discuss about the untoward effects of the uninhibited and careless use of modern imaging modalities and possible ways to avoid. Skeletal manifestation of the tuberculosis is still common in the endemic countries like India. Although the final diagnosis of the skeletal tuberculosis like tubercular arthritis is made by bacteriological and histological studies, few demographic, clinical and radiological features might help making early diagnosis.

Keywords: Radiology; Modern imaging; Patient care; Healthcare costs; Tubercular arthritis; Diagnostic imaging overuse

Core tip: The primary objective is to highlight the possible consequences of the irrational use of imaging investigations. In this case report, we want to explain about an anxious patient undergoing some myriad investigations for an uncommon presentation of common presentations. It is important to optimally use available resources with improved communication with referring physicians and increasing the awareness regarding the utility and indications for various imaging.