The Problem of Misdiagnosis
High-tech diagnostic testing is a modern medical miracle. It delivers detailed views inside the human body to diagnose medical condtions. Unfortunately, it is not foolproof. Premerus is founded on the principle that diagnostic accuracy can do more to improve patient outcomes, enhance quality of care and reduce costs than any other possible intervention.
Scope of the problem
How big of a problem is diagnostic error? A study of autopsies of patients
in the intensive care setting, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings,
comparing clinical diagnoses with postmortem diagnoses revealed that in
26% of cases a diagnosis was missed clinically. In most of these cases,
knowledge of the true diagnoses might have resulted in a change in the patient’s
therapy and prolonged survival.
The researchers concluded that “Despite the introduction of more modern diagnostic techniques and of intensive and invasive monitoring, the number of missed major diagnoses has not essentially changed over the past 20 to 30 years”2
Medical imaging has become a vital component in modern diagnosis. There have been multiple articles published over the past several years discussing radiologic errors. Most of these described failure to detect abnormalities in 25-32% of cases where disease was present and falsely diagnosing diseases in 1.6-2% of cases that were actually normal. 3
A study by the University of Arizona disclosed that, for women who develop
cancer, 75% of the most recent previous mammograms, which were initially
interpreted as having normal findings were in retrospect found to show evidence
of cancer by at least one of three radiologist-reviewers. 4
Misdiagnosis
incurs a heavy burden
Mistakes in diagnosis can deprive patients of needed care or expose them
to side-effects from inappropriate treatment. Misdiagnosis can also generate
significant expenses from unnecessary treatment, retesting, and second opinions.
In addition, misdiagnosis can often delay appropriate treatment when a condition
goes undiagnosed and progresses in severity, further boosting medical costs.
Why are there so many diagnostic errors?
New imaging technologies have dramatically enhanced diagnostic capabilities.
As a result, diagnostic radiology has become increasingly broad and complex.
It is virtually impossible for an individual physician to be considered
an expert in the entire field. Some radiology leaders have recognized the
need to fully subspecialize, which should improve the interpretations provided
to their colleagues and increase the quality of patient care. 5,
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