I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI
4 days ago
- #MRI second opinion
- #patient experience
- #AI medical diagnosis
- The author experienced shoulder pain and sought an orthopedist, who diagnosed a Grade III partial-thickness tear via MRI and suggested immediate treatments including shockwave therapy and a homeopathic injection.
- Using AI (GPT 5.5 Pro), the author identified issues with the treatments: shockwave therapy is not recommended per guidelines for non-calcified tendinopathy, and the injection was a homeopathic product without a therapeutic indication.
- Opus 4.8 AI was then used to analyze the MRI DICOM files, but it reported an intact tendon, contradicting the doctor's finding of a significant tear, leading to uncertainty about the diagnosis.
- A second AI analysis with additional context arbitrated between the reports, concluding with moderate-to-high confidence that there was no discrete tear, only mild tendinosis, further conflicting with the original diagnosis.
- The author expresses discomfort and limbo due to the conflicting opinions, highlighting AI's potential for second opinions but also its current limitations in medical trust, and hopes for future reliability similar to proofreading tools.