While medical testing is a valuable tool in diagnosis and in monitoring health, test results can be misinterpreted or misused. In some cases, the tests may even be unnecessary, resulting in a waste of time and money. The more you know about testing programs, the better you will be able to make informed decisions about what tests to take and which ones to avoid.
You should check with your doctor to make sure a test or retest is necessary. Find out why the test needs to be done, and get a second opinion before you give the go-ahead. Here are some tests you probably should avoid:
1) If you need to be retested again and again, you might want to put a stop to the procedure. This is especially true if the testing involves repeated exposure to radiation, or nuclear medicine. Before you allow the testing to continue, find out why it must be done over and over. Consult with your doctor and find out if such tests are still required. In some cases, repeated testing is the result of an incompetent or “overworked” technician.
2) The American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that you should avoid chest X-rays as a routine part of hospital admissions, and as part of a pre- employment physical. According to the ACR, most such chest X-rays do not turn up anything of significance and are not really worth the expense or potential risk.
The ACR does recommend chest X-rays if a person’s health or medical history warrant them, or if a person is exposed (on a regular basis) to chemicals or other health hazards which could affect the lungs.
3) In the hospital, don’t undergo routine presurgical screening tests which have already been done within the previous year.
4) Tests that involve intrusion into your body are known as “invasive” tests. Such tests are complicated and are designed to obtain a sample of tissue or to get an image which cannot be obtained from outside the body. These tests are potentially painful and dangerous and are only justified if the required results cannot be obtained by a simpler, safer method. Before you agree to an invasive test, you should get a second medical opinion, and be certain that the potential benefit from the procedure is worth the money and the potential risk.
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