[Anne4tos]

It was me. I had an MRA/MRV in April '08. The weekend before the test I had played some golf in Palm Springs and was on NO medication. I was in the provocative position for almost 1 hour, no loss of circulation but both arms were dead for this period of time.

Not only did a massive flare ensue, but I was never able to regain where I was physically prior to the testing. I also had to go on medication. The test didn't reveal a lot of information and what it did reveal, most other practitioners would disregard. I know others who have had the same test, based surgical decisions off of it and they are now worse.

You can test all day long, but there is NO "Gold Standard" test for TOS. IMO, many patients have another issue going on and TOS can be secondary to that issue or caused by another overlooked problem with body mechanics.

[nospam]

Wow, I am sorry to hear that. That really sounds brutal. I'm hoping the angiogram I'm scheduled for is nothing like that.

[tshadow]

I've had TOS and RSD and more, for 8 years now. The first 5 years were hell on earth, until one pain mgt. doc said "we will give you pain relief until you feel pain relief, and then, after a while, you will need less. Your body has been provoked for so long, it is stuck at 10."

So now, I can go with much less, and still sometimes maybe due to vibrating in a car (my neck) I will start an unbelievable pain response and need every thing I have - most of the time now I am working on getting my body back to the age it should be, with gentle exercise, etc.

I am very sad to hear of messed-up testing - it is always ok to say NO to something that your mind says is wrong, or you have an instinct...and a post here usually gets an answer.

I find people stop posting because it is painful first of all, and when they are fighting work comp or insurance it gets very hard to keep up.

[nospam]

I found this helpful

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Imaging
Author: Meghal Antani, MD; Chief Editor: Kyung J Cho, MD, FACR

[chroma]

Originally Posted by nospam

I found this helpful

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Imaging
Author: Meghal Antani, MD; Chief Editor: Kyung J Cho, MD, FACR

The link above goes to an article with a different title and "Antani" is not found in the authors.

[Sheri_TOS]

Originally Posted by chroma

The link above goes to an article with a different title and "Antani" is not found in the authors.

Chroma - good catch. I found the article.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/418670-overview

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Imaging
Author: Meghal Antani, MD; Chief Editor: Kyung J Cho, MD, FACR

[nospam]

Originally Posted by chroma

The link above goes to an article with a different title and "Antani" is not found in the authors.

My apologies...here is the correct link:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/418670-overview

[nospam]

Originally Posted by Anne4tos

It was me. I had an MRA/MRV in April '08. The weekend before the test I had played some golf in Palm Springs and was on NO medication. I was in the provocative position for almost 1 hour, no loss of circulation but both arms were dead for this period of time.

Not only did a massive flare ensue, but I was never able to regain where I was physically prior to the testing. I also had to go on medication. The test didn't reveal a lot of information and what it did reveal, most other practitioners would disregard. I know others who have had the same test, based surgical decisions off of it and they are now worse.

You can test all day long, but there is NO "Gold Standard" test for TOS. IMO, many patients have another issue going on and TOS can be secondary to that issue or caused by another overlooked problem with body mechanics.

I did not go through with the balloon angioplasty, but I did request an MRA/MRV for my own peace of mind. My MRI in 2010 was without contrast, only in the neutral position, and a 1.5 Tesla. We'll see if a 3T scan with contrast yields any new information. I'm headed for surgery anyway and my surgeon doesn't think it will change his opinion on the surgical approach. I just want to have "before" images. It is hard for me to turn of the engineer portion of my brain.

[tshadow]

Originally Posted by nospam

I did not go through with the balloon angioplasty, but I did request an MRA/MRV for my own peace of mind. My MRI in 2010 was without contrast, only in the neutral position, and a 1.5 Tesla. We'll see if a 3T scan with contrast yields any new information. I'm headed for surgery anyway and my surgeon doesn't think it will change his opinion on the surgical approach. I just want to have "before" images. It is hard for me to turn of the engineer portion of my brain.

Push up for New people

[tshadow]

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