[fuzzy]

Mark you are hitting the nail right on the head.

Doctor patient communication. !...could rule out unnecessary discography procedures.

This was my issue my dr. Derby but also other dr.s. A lot of mistakes can be made when you only spend 10 minutes with the patient after looking for 5 minutes at the file that stuck to outside of the door. Worse yet, having to deal with an assistant. Maybe if *you* are part of a patient case its a little different but many are by themselves and are not necessarily qualified to know what is appropriate during times of pain. I have run into several surgeons who simply use this test as standard precedure to pre qualify for surgery without properly looking at the case to determine whether a disco is actually warranted.

I don't doubt at all that this procedure has diagnostic value but I feel it is over used after insufficently studying a patients case, i.e. proper patient selection. Too often it simply feels like it is used simply as a safe guard against possible malpractice legal problems after a poor outcome. Fact is that this procedure does have risks, especially in cervical cases.