How accurate are radiologists' interpretation of scans generally?
 

I had a bit of an odd situation with a neurologist I saw a while back now and it has stuck with me. When I got my TBI I just dealt with my GP, who ordered a CT scan and told me the results were fine. When the symptoms didn't improve I self-organised a follow up with a Neurologist.

When I showed the Neurologist the scan, he instantly said "Wait thats not right" out loud, kind of sounding shocked, then thought for a second, read the attached report and said "Oh, that must be air". Then said its fine and continued to examine me. He didn't seem concerned with the scans.

Its always sat pretty uneasily with me that maybe there was something misinterpreted, you'd think a Neurologist would be quite good at reading CT scans. Or at least not think out loud after glancing them to scare the patients.

Radiologists' readings of CT Scans are far superior to what a neurologist will see and report. A radiologist sees the scans requested by many neuros and knows when something that looks different is a problem or just a odd anatomy. A neuro does not see enough scans to have an opportunity to recognize the various odd anatomies.

In my opinion, your neuro erred by looking at the scan and commenting in front of you before reading the report. I think you may have set yourself up for this by providing the scan at the appointment rather than having it forwarded to the neuro and thus caught the neuro off guard. I try to make sure doctors have full access to any reports and images before an appointment.

Very few people (almost none) with prolonged symptoms have even the slightest indication of an injury on a CT Scan. There is no reason to doubt a negative CT Scan ( negative means no indications of a problem).

My brain scans show abnormal anatomy but none that are a concern or relate to my symptoms. My qEEG results show where my problems lie.

Where do I begin?
 

Terribly mixed results in my family as regards scans of the Brain from those of us who have sustained brain injury.
Uncle, a cousin and my son correctly read scans.
My father, another cousin, and self, incorrectly read.

Dad's scan read by radiologist at local hospital and as we found out later it was never signed which beggars the question was it actually read? He continued to deteriorate and 3 weeks later sent to a larger hospital who were in disbelief that he hadn't been sent straight away. Continually bleeding in the brain and because of condition he was now in, they wouldn't operate.

Cousin lucky, another doctor took one look at him and scan and transferred him to main hospital.

I was told my scans were fine, insurance company demanding I be sent to Neurologist who showed me scan and how to read it. My bleed had stopped of its own accord.

In whom do you trust? This family a believer in getting second opinions.