The science of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has had a huge impact on the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of illness but in particular, neurological disorders. Those previously invisible soft tissues of the brain and spinal cord can now be seen with astonishing clarity. State-of-the-art computer technology allows the brain and surrounding tissues to be seen in three dimensions from any angle. Such is the prowess of the system that neurologists no longer rely on clinical examination and medical history to make a diagnosis of diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). They simply look at the MRI scan and diagnose from that (or so it seems to me).

My MS was diagnosed the old-fashioned (pre-MRI) way in 1984. Twenty years on, with the possibility of expensive new treatments becoming available, I have been undiagnosed, purely by the application of the latest technology. The illness that I have had for more than 20 years no longer has a diagnosis or even an explanation. Thanks to MRI scanning I know that I have non-specific lesions in my brain but I do not know if they have any significance and no one is willing to discuss the matter with me. Funnily enough, this does not feel like an advance in the practice of medicine. It feels like science is being used to usurp the human aspect of the doctor/patient relationship and provide convenient tick boxes for overworked doctors to make rapid diagnoses and keep waiting list numbers down. This must please the managers and accountants who, in our modern health service, dictate who is worthy of treatment. Perhaps, if the current technology had been available 20 years ago, the diagnosis of MS would have never been made. Would that have changed my life? I'll never know.

Image: An MRI scan of a brain affected by multiple sclerosis.
SPL

The views and opinions expressed by writers herein do not necessarily reflect those of the Wellcome Trust.