imaging

unfortunately, i missed week 5 because i was in portlandia.  fortunately, i got to attend my cousin's wedding and camp on the oregon coast!

my left knee has been aching on and off for about 8 weeks now.  at first, it hurt for a few days and then felt fine for a few days.  there was nothing specific that provoked it except direct massage.  i could bike or drive to work, and there was no difference.  i could ice it and take ibuprofen for short term relief when it hurt.  i chose to treat the pain with massages and acupuncture.  neither gave full relief.  while i was in portland, a physical therapist loosely diagnosed a torn meniscus and suggested that an mri is needed to determine the severity.  i went back to my chinese medicine practitioner yesterday to ask what acupuncture and herbs can do for a torn meniscus.  tears and breaks are, unfortunately, not easily treated with chinese medicine.  today i went to an orthopedic surgeon and he thinks it is a vascular tumor.  he also suggests an mri for a better diagnosis.  i scheduled an mri with gadolinium contrast.  i am interested in how the "gad" affects the image.

it is one of the most commonly used contrast agents used in magnetic resonance imaging (mri).  it is usually injected into the body and is quickly excreted through the filtration of the kidneys.  the fda declared gadolinium safe for use in mri scans in 1998 to provide greater detail when viewing the brain and connective tissues such as spinal discs, cartilage, scar tissue, soft tissue tears, tumors, etc.  after gadolinium is injected, it surrounds the abnormal tissues creating an enhanced view of even the slightest abnormality.  it creates a "glowing" effect within the body allowing technicians to see problem areas in very specific ways, especially location and size.  the side effects include burning at the site of injection, mild nausea and headache.