[Consequences of diagnostics with magnetic tomography]

Physicians referring patients to examinations by magnetic resonance tomography (MT) were asked to answer almost identical questionnaires before and after the examination. The questions referred to diagnosis and planned patient management. Impact of MT was measured by examining the changes in patient diagnoses and planned management after the MT scans. In 33% of the group (400 patients) the main diagnosis (four digit ICD-9 code) changed after MT. Diagnostic security was better for 43%, and further diagnostic follow-up changed for 56%, surgery for 20% and radiation therapy for 11%. MT was assumed to have had real consequences for 33% of the patients in terms of significant changes in the doctors planned management or in his concept of the disease. In a follow-up study 1.5-2 years after MT, 64% of the referring doctors were of the opinion that the MT scan had had consequences for the patient and they placed the emphasis on less active patient follow-up after MT.