I am sorry if I have to throw this off neuro question here, I just don't know who to ask to -- my pulmo and my primary care physician are both on vacation.

I got my recent chest cat scan result but I had to go back to the radiologist to check if there are any indication of abnormality in my diaphragm and if I show any sign of Pectous deformity. The Office Manager of the facility where I had my cat scan came back to me saying that according to the radiologist i have "elevated right hemidiaphragm" and "Pectous deformity". I asked why these findings were not included in my written report and came back to me with this reply: "these are not abnormal findings but anatomic variations thats why i did include in my report".
My question is -- what exactly does it mean by this statement? From a layman's point of view anything that is not in its normal is abnormal. I want to get some inputs before I talk with the radiologist so at least I won't get lost in the discussion. Normally, if I don't have an understanding of the topic, I cannot ask questions and only later on when the discussion is over, when i have some time to research on it, that I think of some questions.

I hope that anybody reading this post who has knowledge of understanding the difference between abnormal findings and anatomic variations would share his/her thoughts about it.

Thank you.

I think you'll have to ask your doctor.

Some variations in anatomy, cause problems. I have one of the GI tract. I have malrotation 90 degrees of my whole GI tract rotated so that my appendix is on the left instead of the right. This was discovered when I had an obstruction in my mid 20's. But when I had the same X-rays in college, they didn't tell me at all I had this! Just gave me antispasmotic pills for the twisting times! So I got into a small bowel obstruction later, and THEN my doctor explained it all to me. Not everyone with malrotation has the symptoms I have...but some of us do.

Mrs.D,
Thank you very much for your reply.
This was exactly what the radiologist said, he did not include it in the report because its not an abnormal findings, its anatomical variations. I am always short of breath. If this radiologist thinks its not worth reporting, his predecessor reported the Pectous deformity when I had an X-ray 2 yrs ago. Isn't it the norm to include in the report whatever is seen in the imaging, including the anatomical variations whether these cause symptoms or not?

I will discuss it with the doctor but you know how some doctors downplay findings that appear harmless but may cause harm down the road.

I think they downplay it for 2 reasons:

1) people are highly suggestible

2) they don't really know what each person is going to experience with the problem.

I found a book about my issues at the U of Mich medical library.
It was 90 pgs long. And it was from Toronto Canada. The gist of it was that some people with malrotation have lifelong problems/symptoms (like me), and others never do. This book had a surgeon's opinion of how to fix some of it. But I have been told by 3 doctors, including one recent radiologist graduate, that my problem is not fixable. So there.

Sometimes there are no answers.

In my case Mrs. D, the anatomical variations can both cause the symptom of SOB. I read that elevated right hemidiaphragm can either be caused by lung abscess/infection or nerve problems or hepatic dysfunction. I think this variation is important in my diagnosis of MAC and neuropathy. As to Pectous deformity, it may explain some of my SOB.

It may have been okay, if the symptom I am complaining about is not a direct symptom of these variations. I just wish this radiologist could have mentioned them in the result. If at all, nothing can be done about it, at least I know and my pulmo knows about it too so these variations would be in the parameters for consideration in my management.

Personally, I think radiologists have a responsibility to report anything they find. It is not their place to determine suggestibility of the patient or whether they will experience symptoms from it. Their job is solely to report the findings (all of them) and leave the clinical diagnosis to the doctor.

It used to be that patients were not reading their own reports. Now patients can be more proactive when they see things like this and start asking more questions.