Primary Care Doctors say Imaging Improves Patient Care

Do we use too much medical imaging? Not according to primary care doctors in a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The study surveyed 500 primary care doctors in the U.S. – 88% of the physicians surveyed said that diagnostic imaging allows them to be more confident in their diagnoses and to make better clinical decisions. All that equals better patient care in their books.

In both the United States and Canada, medical imaging is viewed as a costly component of the healthcare system and ways to cut those costs are being explored. Practical guidelines have been developed both in Canada and the U.S. to help doctors choose the most appropriate type of imaging for their patients’ particular symptoms. The goal of these guidelines is to help eliminate unnecessary or redundant testing.

At Canada Diagnostic, we are able to offer MRI, CT and Ultrasound so that you can get the best test possible for your unique needs. Our radiologists are available to speak with your doctors anytime to help determine what the best test is. Each type of test provides a different type of information, so its important to choose the best one for diagnostic accuracy.

Find out how we can help – call us today at 604-709-8522 or email us at info@canadadiagnostic.com

A cure for “Jumper’s Knee”?

Do you have patellar tendinitis or tendinopathy – also known as Jumper’s Knee?  This can be a stubborn condition that causes pain when jumping or kneeling and is usually caused by overuse.

Tendinopathies can be hard to heal – tendons don’t have a rich blood supply which is necessary for healing.  Blood carries “repair” components to the injury site including, healing cells, and the body’s own chemicals necessary for healing (growth factors).

When Jumper’s Knee becomes chronic and traditional conservative therapies (rest, physiotherapy, bracing) haven’t improved matters, it might be time to try something new:  hcPRP.

hcPRP, or highly-concentrated platelet-rich plasma, is a concentration of blood platelets, made from your own blood and injected directly into the tendon.  What does it do?  Well, it delivers platelets, full of the healing ingredients that can kick-start the repair process of stubborn injuries.

Canada Diagnostic Centres in Vancouver is the only place in Canada that you can get hcPRP treatments.  There are other platelet-rich-plasma treatments available, but they only concentrate the platelets to 5-8x baseline and multiple injections are usually required.  With hcPRP, we concentrate the platelets to 25-45x baseline and one injection is generally all that is required.

An important component to our treatments is that we use image-guidance for our injections.  We use either ultrasound or CT to help the radiologist visualize exactly where the injection needs to go and to help him ensure the needle delivers the hcPRP to the exact spots it is needed most.  Result?  More accurate placement of hcPRP resulting in better healing.

Will hcPRP help you?  We have had a lot of success treating a number of chronic tendinopathies with hcPRP, so if you have been diagnosed with Jumper’s Knee or patellar tendonopathy, give us a call to learn more about hcPRP.

Call us today at 1-877-709-8522 to learn more.

Mayo Clinic study finds PRP safe and effective

A study done at the Mayo Clinic, and published in the October 2011 Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, finds that needle tenotomy plus PRP is a “safe and effective treatment for chronic, recalcitrant tendinopathy”.

The patients who participated in the study each had stubborn tendon problems.  The tendons treated in the study were located in the upper arms (including elbows), legs, ankles and feet. 

The researchers at the Mayo Clinic used needle tenotomy (in simple terms, “poking” the tendon with a needle) before injecting the PRP into the injured tendon.  Their aim was to create more surface area for the PRP to latch on to, increasing the amount of tissue regeneration stimulation that could occur.

Highly-concentrated platelet-rich plasma (hcPRP) is now available at Canada Diagnostic .  Email us at info@canadadiagnostic.com or call us at 1-877-709-8522 to learn more.

Painful Tendon that just won’t heal? PRP may be the answer!

Have you been suffering with chronic pain because of a tendon that just won’t heal?

There’s a new technique that uses your own blood to help heal the injury and eliminate your pain.

PRP – or platelet-rich plasma – is being used by sports medicine and orthopedic specialists to help heal chronic tendinopathies. Because tendons and ligaments have a limited blood supply, there are often not enough platelets to properly heal the injury.

PRP helps eliminate that problem, by providing a concentration of your own platelets directly at the injury site that may promote healing. As the tissue repairs itself, your pain gradually subsides and functionality is restored.

But, there is even better news!  An exciting new development in the world of PRP is called hcPRP or highly-concentrated platelet-rich plasma. Most PRP practitioners use a platelet concentration of 5 – 8 times the amount that normally circulates in your blood. With hcPRP, those concentrations are 25 – 45 times baseline PLUS, thrombin from your blood is added just as the hcPRP is injected. Thrombin helps activate the platelets so that they can be more effective.

Canada Diagnostic is now offering hcPRP injections at our Vancouver clinic. Our doctors use either an ultrasound or CT scanner to help them ensure that the hcPRP injection goes precisely where they want it to go – another way to ensure the treatment will be effective!

PRP / hcPRP is still considered investigational or experimental, but many of the scientific studies that have already been done show that PRP is very promising.

Visit our website or give us a call to find out more about hcPRP at Canada Diagnostic: 1-877-709-8522 or 604-709-8522