Dynamic Chiropractic - June 19, 1992, Volume 10, Issue 13

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Review


Labdata -- Reference Manual

Author: William B. Risely, D.C.

Spiral-bound -- 95 pages

It's estimated that 50 percent of all the diagnostic procedures performed at the Scrips and Mayo Clinics are fallacious and at the doctor's office almost 80 percent lead to false conclusions. And this is with the most sophisticated diagnostic "toys" available.

It's statistics like these that make the super-straight chiropractor jump for joy. Why should procedures be learned that are so imprecise? That are so flawed? This, of course, implies that chiropractic palpation and procedures such as muscle testing are perfect and not subject to human error.

Yet, we keep diagnosing or analyzing because the only thing left is an ignorant guess instead of an educated one. Admitting that the only good diagnosis is made on autopsy shouldn't stop us from trying to expand the parameters of our "guesswork." Sure, Chinese pulse diagnosis isn't perfect, and we can't make a perfect assessment of cardiac function through mere auscultation, but that doesn't mean we can't learn a great deal from different procedures that may only tell us part of the story.

The body speaks to us all the time and never lies. It's the duty of practitioners who are recognized as a portal of entry into the health field to be able to tell patients what can be done for them, but just as important when it is outside of the purview of their practice.

In reality, diagnostic procedures are like pieces in a picture puzzle, and you can't see the complete picture until all the pieces are locked correctly into place.

I'm reminded of a story I've told many times. A number of years ago a female patient came to me with severe spasms in the paravertebral muscles. She was already an established patient, but this was different. She had never been in such pain and so severe was her discomfort that she could hardly be touched. She assured me that it was probably just gas and that all she needed was to go home and she would probably be fine in the morning.

It was a busy day and I was tempted to let her go. But she just didn't look right, and McBurney's point was hot and quite tender. Maybe it was appendicitis. With that possibility in mind, I immediately sent her to the lab in the same building as my office and specified "stat." for the report. Within hours, the results came back showing her WBC count was almost three times above normal.

Armed with this information, I referred her to a surgeon who, upon a physical examination and perusal of the lab report, resolved that her problem was a hot appendix that had to be removed that night.

The following morning he called to say that we had both made a misdiagnosis and that our patient was found to be hemorrhaging internally from a ruptured ovarian cyst, and that she would likely have died in her sleep had she not had the surgery.

We are left to wonder what the super-straight would have done in the same situation. Through dogmatic ignorance of diagnostic procedures, the same patient would probably have died. Yes, the diagnosis of appendicitis was the wrong guess, but the WBC elevation indicated that something was radically wrong which led to the life-saving surgery.

So correct guess or not, we need a variety of diagnostic procedures to best serve the health of our patients. Dr. William Risely has risen to this need by producing a text that should be in the office of every chiropractor. Labdata is simply a compendium of diagnostic laboratory procedures.

In all, there are 42 blood chemistry tests, six graphs, 23 urinalysis tests, and 12 hematology tests listed. Biomechanical profiles and 15 hair analysis tests are also covered.

This manual is an easy reference guide giving both normal values and the assumptions indicated by those results that fall outside of the accepted numbers.

Straight or mixer, we owe those we serve only the best treatment, based on the best diagnostic guesses we can make, and Labdata is an excellent extension of this premise.

See pages xx, Parts #T-142 for information on how to order.

RHT