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Accidental Diagnostic Clues From Non-Medical Sources

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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I can't find a thread that recommends itself for this story, so I'm starting a new one.

The theme here relates to clues / cues / evidence for substantial medical issues obtained from experiences, events, etc., other than examination or testing by medical professionals. Phrased another way, it relates to diagnostic clues obtained by accident.

In this particular case, a thermal image of a woman from a tourist attraction showed a visual anomaly which led her to consult doctors and confirm she had early stage breast cancer.

Heat camera at tourist attraction spots woman's breast cancer

A trip to a tourist attraction in Scotland turned out to be a life-changing moment for one woman after a thermal camera detected she had breast cancer.

Bal Gill, 41, was looking back over images from her trip to Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, in Edinburgh, when she noticed a heat patch over her breast.

After making an appointment with her doctor, Gill was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer -- but experts have warned that Gill was lucky and thermal imaging cameras are not effective in screening for the disease.

Gill, who visited the attraction in May, wrote to Camera Obscura following her diagnosis, telling staff she had searched Google for information about what the hot spot could mean and saw articles about breast cancer and thermal imaging cameras.

"I have now had two surgeries and have one to go to prevent it from spreading," she wrote in a letter published on the Camera Obscura website.

"I just wanted to say thank you: without that camera, I would never have known. I know it's not the intention of the camera but for me, it really was a life-changing visit."

Andrew Johnson, general manager of Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, said it was "amazing" Gill noticed the difference in the image and acted promptly.

Gill may have had a lucky break thanks to a thermal imaging camera, but medical experts do not recommend using the devices for screening purposes.

"In the past thermal imagining cameras have been experimented with to detect cancer however this has never been a proven screening tool." ...
FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/health/thermal-imaging-breast-cancer-scli-intl-scn/index.html
 
Like this?

Deborah Norville undergoes surgery for cancerous thyroid nodule

The "Inside Edition" host had been monitoring a lump on her neck ever since a viewer spotted it some time ago.
Deborah Norville has undergone surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid nodule from her neck — and she's given thanks to the eagle-eyed viewer who first spotted it.

The "Inside Edition" host and former TODAY anchor revealed Monday that she and her doctor had been monitoring the lump ever since a viewer brought it to her attention some time ago.
https://www.today.com/health/deborah-norville-undergo-surgery-cancerous-thyroid-nodule-t151383

There was an almost identical situation that happened here (Australia) a few years back when a viewer noticed a lump on the throat of a t.v presenter and managed to contact her with her concerns. I had no luck searching for it. I also seem to recall a similar instance where a viewer contacted a t.v station with their concerns over a presenter's mole which turned out to be cancerous.
 
Also, one sometimes hears of a pet nuzzling its owner in an unusual way which turns out to be a warning of cancer.

Or humans spot it.
Many years ago I read a book about lung cancer (I was in that sort of job!)

Soon afterwards I stood in a market queue next to a man I knew slightly, whose voice suddenly went croaky for a few words then back to normal.

This was, I remembered, exactly how a person would speak with a form of early but fast-moving lung cancer. It affects the nerves attached to the vocal chords.

I didn't point this out as it seemed a bizarre thing to say to someone I hardly knew! but he was dead of exactly that within a year. Should I have spoken up, I wonder?
Eve since, if I've had a feeling like that about someone's health I've discreetly mentioned it.
 
I recently went into hospital for a maxillo-facial operation. When they gave me a CT scan of my head and neck, they ran the scanner a little lower and just clipped the top of my lung.

The accidental CT scan of my lung revealed nodules, and I was under observation for some time (with repeat scans) to check on the progress of these. They didn't seem to have anything to do with the max-fac issues that had taken me in in the first place.
 
I think it's quite common for partners to discover skin-cancers, which are out of view of the patient. It happened to an ex-neighbour, whose wife found a painless lesion, during a back-scrubbing session. Though small, it did not repond to treatment, alas.

Though I have never been a sun-worshipper, I do have a wall of mirrors in my bathroom, in lieu of a spouse! :shy:
 
I feel there are a lot of those clickbait twitter/Facebook ads covering this.

'Couple posed for festive photo, but her neighbour noticed something strange and saved her life'. 600 pages of ads later you find out her left eye was slightly bloodshot and her neighbour is a bloodshot eye specialist.
 
I recently went into hospital for a maxillo-facial operation. When they gave me a CT scan of my head and neck, they ran the scanner a little lower and just clipped the top of my lung.

The accidental CT scan of my lung revealed nodules, and I was under observation for some time (with repeat scans) to check on the progress of these. They didn't seem to have anything to do with the max-fac issues that had taken me in in the first place.


Hmm.. 'nodules'.
I went for a scan of my gall bladder last year, and they discovered nodules on my spleen.
I had a further CAT scan, but no-one seems any the wiser what the 'nodules' are.
(Hopefully not malignant, as of course I also had blood tests.)
They are leaving my spleen alone for the time being, because I've also got chronically low platelets, and the spleen is notorious for bleeding if interfered with.

What the hell is a nodule, anyway? :)
 
You get all sorts of things in there. A few years ago I had an abdominal scan where some weird shapes showed up.

They seemed to be nearly transparent spheres. I saw them on the screen and gaped, what the ACTUAL?

Seems they were benign fluid-filled cysts. They are common and don't cause problems.
 
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