Shadow Creatures
An (ideal) day in the life of a radiologist
Wake up, sunglasses on
Waffles for breakfast – favourite food
Spend the day playing spot the differences and where’s Waldo
Gone fishing (if we must)
Do some gardening – hedge trimmers are a necessity
Trying to look “cool” with a gaming mouse
“I don’t need to be cool anymore. In fact, it’s way more fun to be awkward.”
CT scanners have been called the donut of truth. On a shift in the radiology department, the scans will be ordered by the dozen. The complex patients, the undifferentiated patients, the patients awaiting a life-altering diagnosis…most will spend time in the department. Although we may not see them face-to-face, we will still spend a long time with them, examining images, reviewing charts, and discussing findings, as the next steps of their journey may depend on the results of that scan.
Sometimes the scan is a diagnostic CT. Sometimes it’s NHCT (No Human Can Tell). Sometimes it’s a challenge to know the difference, to know when and how to make an important diagnosis, versus when you need to hop on the fence with a waffle maker and hedge trimmers. Evaluating the scans to make these calls is not just black and white – radiology has many shades of grey, both in the images themselves and in the way we interpret their significance.
They say that AI is taking over radiology (and the em dash above). It may have a role to play: last block, we asked AI to lyricize a report, and were jamming to “The Nodule Song (PET-CT Blues with a Twist).” Beyond that? Well, a donut is only as good as the baker, and all that…
So come to the dark side, we have donuts (of truth).
CT scanners have been called the donut of truth. On a shift in the radiology department, the scans will be ordered by the dozen. The complex patients, the undifferentiated patients, the patients awaiting a life-altering diagnosis…most will spend time in the department. Although we may not see them face-to-face, we will still spend a long time with them, examining images, reviewing charts, and discussing findings, as the next steps of their journey may depend on the results of that scan.
Sometimes the scan is a diagnostic CT. Sometimes it’s NHCT (No Human Can Tell). Sometimes it’s a challenge to know the difference – to know when and how to make an important diagnosis, versus when you need to hop on the fence with a waffle maker and hedge trimmers. Evaluating the scans to make these calls is not just black and white – radiology has many shades of grey, both in the images themselves and in the way we interpret their significance. The integration of these aspects in the context of each patient is where radiologists as people can contribute to the care of patients as people.
They say that AI is taking over radiology (and the em dash above). It may have a role to play: last block, we asked AI to lyricize a report, and were jamming to “The Nodule Song (PET-CT Blues with a Twist).” Beyond that? Well, a donut is only as good as the baker, and all that…
So come to the dark side, we have donuts (of truth).
It’s like playing a very high stakes game of Spot the Differences meets Where’s Waldo. You can even get a fancy gaming mouse to make it as “cool” and efficient as possible.
Given the technological
Recent questionable sources are suggesting the em dash above as proof of AI. Is AI taking over radiology? Well, it may have a role to play: last block, we asked AI to lyricize a report,
and were jamming to “The Nodule Song (PET-CT Blues with a Twist).” Beyond that? Well, a donut is only as good as the baker, and all that…
Come to the dark side, we have donuts (of truth).
Well, a donut is only as good as the baker, and all that…
…..and the next steps of the patient’s journey may depend on the results of that CT.
Sometimes it’s a diagnostic CT. Sometimes it’s an NHCT (no human can tell).
The challenge is
Sometimes it’s a challenge to know the difference – to know when and how to make an important diagnosis, and when you need to hop on the fence with a radiologist’s two favourite household implements: a waffle maker and hedge trimmers.
Recent questionable sources are suggesting the em dash as proof of AI. They also say that AI is taking over radiology. Well, it may have a role to play: last block, we asked AI to lyricize a report, and were jamming to “The Nodule Song (PET-CT Blues with a Twist).” Next block, we’ll be doing the TWIST (Time-resolved angiography With Interleaved Stoachastic Trajectories MRI sequences, that is).
It’s like playing a very high stakes game of Spot the Differences meets Where’s Waldo. You can even get a fancy gaming mouse to make it as cool and efficient as possible.
Welcome to the dark side. Stop by any time. We may just be on a fishing expedition – with donuts (of truth)
Come to the dark side, we have donuts (of truth).
They say that AI is taking over radiology. Well, that may be partially true: last block, we asked AI to lyricize a report, and were jamming to “The Nodule Song (PET-CT Blues with a Twist).” Next block, we’ll be doing the TWIST Time-resolved angiography With Interleaved Stoachastic Trajectories MRI sequences, that is).
Beyond that? Well, a donut is only as good as the baker, and all that…
On my last nuclear medicine block, we asked…
On my next MRI block, we’ll be doing the TWIST (Time-resolved angiography With Interleaved Stoachastic Trajectories, that is).
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